Can Truck Drivers refuse to work more then 40 hours a week?

Question

I am thinking to become a truck driver and I am willing to drive anywhere in USA/Canada.I just don't want to drive more then 40 hours a week.I'm talking about a big truck.Can I be forced to work more then 40 hours a week?

I know I wont get paid as much but I don't care.

Answer 1

40 hour work weeks for truckers usually only exist in the "union world."  And that will be local, or regional work.  Not international OTR.  A typical week for a truck driver is 50 - 60 hours.  And no, you don't get overtime for the hours above 44.  If you are OTR, you are paid by the mile... no such thing as O/T.  And yes, unless you are union, you can be forced/stuck working in excess of 40 hours.  

Trucking is not a specific start - specific stop time job.  There are too many variables.  The distances... the number of deliveries... the workload of the company...  

While it is possible to find something that might give you 40 hours, there is no guarantee.  When the load needs to be delivered, you are to deliver it.

Answer 2

If you belong to the Teamster's Union, you may have to do some overtime sometimes (nearly every working person has to face this), but the Teamster's Union offers better pay and better benefits than RN's get.

You can work however much you want if you're an independent trucker; you own the truck and have to keep it in good repair. You also have to fuel it out of your own money. Not cheap.

If you want to drive a truck for a big company like Coca Cola, make sure you get hired by a company that has a union. Otherwise you'll be driving 80 hours a week and will be living out of your truck.

Answer 3

For starters, you will drive more than 40 hours per week, no if's, and's, or but's.  If you are union, you will still get stuck with overtime from time to time.  If you are over the road, you will face the "hours of service" regulations as indicated by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Regulations.  Those regs state that you may drive no more than  11 hours before you have to take a 10 hour break or you may not drive after you have been on duty for more than 14 hours without taking a 10 hour break.

Here is the typical "roadmap" for "thinking to become a truck driver" that you outlined in your question.  Step one is to complete driving school.  Step two is to actually get hired by a company who will then more than likely require you to drive as a team for a few months.  Team driving consists of you (the rookie) driving with a seasoned driver.  While you drive, he sleeps, and vice versa.  There is no 40 hours here....  The truck keeps moving.

Step three is you get your own truck.  You are now a solo driver.  You are allowed to drive 70 hours in an 8 day period.  Expect to use all 70 of those.

After a year of driving over the road like this, you "might" be eligible to get dedicated routes or regional routes that get you home more frequently.  Additionally, you will be able to apply for those jobs you see in the paper that want 1yr OTR experience, but you will be up against folks with 5yrs experience and more.  Those jobs are competitive, depending of course on where you live.

You will need to add your hazardous materials, doubles and triples, and tanker endorsements as soon after the 1 year as you can in order to make yourself more marketable.

As to your original question, once you have 5 years experience, you will want to look into companies like Fed EX, UPS, etc for jobs.  They typically have in and out runs that are 40-50 hour jobs, but they are mainly night jobs.  Apart from that, driving trash trucks or articulated trucks that haul things like construction dumpsters will be the way to go.

But forgive me.  Your question was:  "Can I be forced to work more than 40 hours a week".  The answer is no.  

Will anyone hire you if you don't want to work more than 40 hours a week?  The answer is no.