Washington truck drivers may be owed up to 3 years of back wages by their employers for unpaid rest periods under state law.
Under the 2015 Washington Supreme Court Case Demetrio v. Sakuma Bros. Farms, and two subsequent federal court decisions, Helde v. Knight Transportation and Mendis v. Schneider Nat’l Carriers, Washington resident, Washington CDL truck drivers who are paid on a “piece-rate” basis, that is, per-mile, per-load, or per-trip, must be paid hourly and separately for 10-minute rest breaks for every four hours of work at their hourly calculated rate of pay. Truckers are entitled to rest break pay even if they take the rest break. In addition to back wages owed, truckers may be entitled to double damages for willful violations of the law. Eligible truckers may be owed back pay if they worked on a per-mile, load, or trip basis at any time in the last 3 years.
Washington attorney India Lin Bodien, along with out-of state co-counsel, fights to get truckers their back wages owed for rest break pay and currently represents over 2,500 Washington truck drivers in class action rest break cases all over Washington State. Some of her past results include obtaining $205,000 in wages due to a class of approximately 30 truck drivers, and $775,000 in wages due to a class of approximately 250 truck drivers.
Ms. Bodien provides a free and confidential consultation to truckers who want to find out if they are owed money. It only takes a few minutes. If you are a Washington Resident, Washington CDL truck driver and you are or were paid per-mile, load, or percentage of load at any time during the last 3 years, call India Lin Bodien, Attorney at Law at (253) 212-7913 today to see if you are owed money. You can learn more at www.washingtontruckdriverrights.com or www.facebook.com/washingtontruckdriverrights. Ms. Bodien’s work has also been featured in Women in Trucking, at http://www.realwomenintrucking.com/2017/05/17/wage-theft-truck-drivers/