Breaking News: FMCSA to take comments on automatic broker document reporting

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Tuesday that it is opening a comment period on a request from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and the Small Business in Transportation Coalition that could lead to a requirement that brokers automatically share documentation on transactions with drivers and other parties to a deal.

The OOIDA request is that FMCSA require brokers to provide an electronic copy of every transaction within 48 hours “after the contractual service has been completed” and would also “prohibit explicitly brokers from including any provision in their contracts that requires a motor carrier to waive its rights to access the transaction records.” The SBTC request is for FMCSA to “prohibit brokers from coercing or otherwise requiring parties to brokers’ transactions to waive their right to review the record of the transaction as a condition for doing business.”

Parties to a transaction do have the right to receive documents about the deal. But brokers report that the documents are almost never requested. The countervailing argument is that drivers don’t ask for them because they’re afraid the request could lead to a “blackballing” of those drivers who do make the request, limiting their opportunities in the future.

(The follow-up article to this breaking news was published later in the day.)