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A federal court ruling could require New Jersey trucking companies to pay their drivers more for overtime work than a state regulation demanded.

It is not clear whether the ruling extends to interstate carriers that send drivers through the state. Late last week, lawyers, truckers and government officials were still sorting out the effects of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision.

The three-judge panel in Philadelphia rejected an exemption for trucking in the state’s requirement that all companies pay time-and-a-half of the full wage for each hour worked beyond 40 in one week. The exemption, issued by the New Jersey Department of Labor, allowed motor carriers to pay 1.5 times the state minimum wage of $5.05 an hour — a sum far below most trucker’s wages.

An earlier ruling by the U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., upheld the department’s regulatory exemption, but the appellate court said that only the state legislature could make such an exemption.

Because the decision affects only a single state’s regulatory powers, it is not seen likely to set a precedent for other states that treat truckers differently in overtime pay laws.

The decision, however, could drastically alter New Jersey’s trucking business, said James Stuffo Jr., president of Alto’s Express in Riverton, N.J.

“It would affect everything — starting times, how you route trucks, what freight you take, your rates, the number of trucks you needed to run,” he said. “If it really does have such a broad impact, you’d have to fight this.”

For the full story, see the August 9 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.