Truckers are on pace to file a record number of complaints against employers amid the driver shortage

• Truckers have filed nearly 500 coercion complaints in 2022, according to FMCSA data.
• That’s on pace to nearly double the number of complaints from past years, Freight Waves first reported.
• Supply-chain snags have forced drivers to wait hours at ports amid tight delivery windows.

US truckers are on pace to file a record number of coercion complaints this year as drivers battle supply-chain snags that have created historic delays and price hikes.

Data as of Friday from the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) shows that nearly 500 coercion complaints against employers and shippers have been filed by truckers since the beginning of 2022. The data was first reported by Freight Waves.

The publication found that the number of coercion complaints that have been filed in the past 14 weeks is on pace to almost double the number of complaints that have been filed in any individual year since the system was adopted in 2016.

Truckers can file coercion complaints against employers for a variety of reasons, including being told to drive over the hours of service limits or perform a task that would not be in line with regulations related to the handling of hazardous materials. The Coercion Rule comes into effect when an employer “threatens to withhold work from, take employment action against, or punish a driver for refusing” to perform a task that would violate regulations, according to the FMCSA’s definition.

Current FMCSA regulations stipulate that a trucker cannot drive more than 11 hours a day or work more than 14 consecutive hours. But, delays in the US supply-chain have made it increasingly difficult for drivers to stay under the 14-hour limit. Insider previously reported that truckers at the nation’s largest ports have waited as long as eight hours to pick up goods — a delay that made truckers miss delivery windows and work two days on a load that could have taken less than one day. 

US trucker’s plight has caught national attention in recent months. Earlier this year, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said pay-per-mile policies have slashed truckers’ earnings, creating unnecessary pressure on the drivers to compensate for lengthy wait times in order to make delivery deadlines.

Last week, President Joe Biden announced a 90-day plan to help loosen up the supply chain and improve conditions for truckers who move 70% of the nation’s goods. The announcement came after the American Trucking Association reported last year that the industry faced a shortage of over 80,000 truckers. Experts and truckers have pushed back against the notion of a trucker shortage, saying the issue comes down to poor treatment.

“Treatment of drivers by management is one of the reasons [for the trucker shortage] that doesn’t get enough attention — specifically demands put on some of them to continue to drive when they’re too tired to drive safely,” US Representative Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) said during a hearing on the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) 2023 budget last week.

Malinowski noted that driver fatigue has been identified as a factor in 20% of the accidents the NTSB has investigated.