Supreme overturns excerpts from the Truckers Law on rest and journey

On June 30, the Federal Supreme Court concluded a trial, in a virtual plenary session, which considered 11 provisions of the 2015 Truck Drivers Law unconstitutional. 8 to 3. The information is from the Jota website and G1.

With the declarations of unconstitutionality, obtained at the request of the National Confederation of Transport Workers, the daily rest period for drivers must necessarily be 11 consecutive hours every 24 hours (the law allowed for this time to be divided); the mandatory stop in driving can no longer be considered in this rest period; truck drivers will have a weekly rest period of 24 hours in the case of trips lasting more than seven days, and they will no longer be able to share this time, nor use it after returning. On trips with two drivers, both in trucks and passenger buses, the court vetoed the rest of the driver who is not driving if the vehicle is in motion – the rest must take place in accommodation or cabin/sleeping chair with the vehicle parked. In addition, the journey now includes the waiting time to load or unload the truck, and for inspecting the goods – the law did not include these procedures in the journey, nor in overtime.

The productive sector argued that the decision will make cargo transportation more expensive, and that there is no infrastructure in the country to meet all the requirements related to drivers’ rest. However, the understanding prevailed that rest periods need to be complied with in full, without splitting, to provide drivers with the possibility of recovering after hours behind the wheel and allowing them to continue working with the necessary attention, especially taking into account the precarious state of most Brazilian highways. The three ministers who formed the minority did not vote for the constitutionality of the 11 devices, on the contrary: they intended to invalidate even more parts of the law.

In the same judgment, the justices considered the requirement of a drug test for professional drivers to be constitutional, also provided for in the Truck Drivers Law as a requirement for professionals to obtain or renew licenses in categories C, D and E.