Good post, LehighValley. Washington State Supreme Court ruled that truck drivers from that state are entitled to overtime. Apparently it's because the state legislature did not pass a law that has the same language as the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Here is a review from a law firm of the situtation in WA.
I'm not a historian but my understanding of the labor history in this country is that the FLSA and other labor laws were brought about due to sweat shop conditions. Workers were exploited in many ways including working long, long hours. Exhausted employees were losing limbs and lives in machinery.
The 40 hour week was a message to employers that due to safety and quality of life isssues, if you work your employees more than 40 hours you will pay them time and half.
While it's unfortunate when a factory worker is injured due to exhaustion, I would think that an 80k lb truck has the potential to cause injury to a lot of innocent bystanders. But in the end, safety is not the most important consideration. The govt exempted truck drivers from the 40 hour work week due to profit considerations.
That's my take on it.
Overtime pay 
Linear Mode
