Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/599895
NEWS & NOTES 10 // OWNER OPERATOR // DECEMBER 2015 erators continue to thrive. Estimated to make up nearly 20 percent of all trucks on the road today, nearly 75 percent of independent owner operators are still earning more than company drivers." EPA enforces Calif. emissions regs, carrier hit with $400k in fines over DPF violations By Jill Dunn A Virginia trucking company will pay $100,000 to the Environmental Protection Agency and an additional $290,000 to Cali- fornia in the first federal enforcement of the state's Truck and Bus Regulation. The EPA has fined Estes Express Lines $100,000 for lacking diesel particulate filters on 73 trucks operating in California. That rep- resents 15 percent of the fleet Estes operates there, but the national carrier now only uses new trucks in the state. Trucks are the largest source of air pollution in California, which has the worst air quality in the nation, the agency stated Oct. 8. The California truck rules, the first of its kind in the nation, were adopted into federal Clean Air Act plan requirements in 2012. Privately-owned heavy-duty diesel trucks that operate in California must meet the state's emissions requirements or use DPFs. The private LTL carrier will also pay $255,400 of the $290,000 to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's Burn Cleaner Incentive Program. The program reduces the region's particulate matter from older wood-burning devices by helping resi- dents replace them with natural gas inserts or EPA-certified devices. The remaining $35,000 will go to the University of California Davis Extension to start a state training program to educate out-of-state trucking firms on compli- ance with the rule. Last February, the EPA notified Estes that some trucks operating in California lacked the filters on some trucks and it had failed to verify compliance with the Truck and Bus Regulation for its hired motor carriers. Court approves FedEx's $228M settlement with drivers, resolving 'misclassification' claims By James Jaillet The judge overseeing a class action lawsuit against FedEx Ground over its classification of certain drivers as independent contractors instead of employees has approved the com- pany's June-announced $228 million settle- ment with 2,300 California-based FedEx driv- ers. The settlement will resolve the legal battle that's now stretched a decade, as the original complaint in the case was brought against the LTL giant in 2005. Truck operators for the company claimed their designation as con- tractors, and not company employees, kept them from being eligible for certain state- required employee benefits like overtime pay and rest breaks. FedEx told CCJ in June the settlement cov- ers just the 2,300 drivers that worked at the company in California between 2000 and 2007. Other similar cases in other states will proceed separately, said company spokesper-