Hours of service supporting documents

Scope

This requirement applies to drivers and motor carriers operating property-carrying and passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce.

Regulatory citations

• 49 CFR 395.11 — Supporting documents

Key definitions

• Commercial motor vehicle (CMV): A self-propelled or towed motor vehicle used on a highway, in interstate commerce, that meets any one of the following criteria:
  • Has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) or gross combination weight rating (GCWR), or gross vehicle weight (GVW) or gross combination weight (GCW), of 10,001 pounds or more, whichever is greater;
  • Is designed or used to transport more than 8 passengers (including the driver) for compensation; or
  • Is designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers (including the driver), and not used to transport passengers for compensation; or
  • Is transporting hazardous materials of a type or quantity which requires placarding.
• Supporting document: A document, in any medium, generated or received by a motor carrier in the normal course of business that can be used, as produced or with additional identifying information, by the motor carrier and enforcement officials to verify the accuracy of a driver’s record of duty status.

Summary of requirements

Drivers must submit their supporting documents to their motor carrier within 13 days of either the 24-hour period to which the documents pertain or the day the document comes into the their possession, whichever is later.

A motor carrier must retain each supporting document generated or received in the normal course of business in the following categories for each of its drivers to verify on-duty not driving time:

• Bill of lading, itinerary, schedule, or equivalent document that indicates the origin and destination of each trip;
• Dispatch record, trip record, or equivalent document;
• Expense receipt related to any on-duty not driving time;
• Electronic mobile communication record, reflecting communications transmitted through a fleet management system; and
• Payroll record, settlement sheet, or equivalent document that indicates payment to a driver.

A supporting document must include each of the following data elements:

• The driver’s name or personal identification number (PIN) or a unit (vehicle) number if the unit number can be associated with the driver operating the unit;
• The date at the location where the date is recorded;
• The location, which must include the name of the nearest city, town, or village to enable enforcement personnel to quickly determine a vehicle’s location on a standard map or road atlas; and
• The time (which must be convertible to the local time) at the location where it is recorded.

Each electronic mobile communication record applicable to an individual driver’s 24-hour period must be counted as a single document.

In addition to other supporting documents required, a motor carrier that requires a driver to complete a paper record of duty status (due to use of one of the exceptions under 395.8(a)(1)(iii)) must maintain toll receipts for any period when the driver kept paper records of duty status.

No motor carrier or driver may obscure, deface, destroy, mutilate, or alter existing information contained in a supporting document.

Upon request during a roadside inspection, a driver must make available to an authorized law enforcement official, any supporting document in the driver’s possession.

Record retention. A motor carrier must retain all supporting documents at its principal place of business, regional office, or driver work-reporting location for a period of six months from the date of receipt.

A motor carrier is not required to retain more than eight supporting documents for an individual driver’s 24-hour period. If a motor carrier has more than eight supporting documents for a driver’s 24-hour period, the motor carrier must retain the supporting documents containing the earliest and the latest time indications among the eight supporting documents retained.

A motor carrier must retain supporting documents in such a manner that they may be effectively matched to the corresponding driver’s record of duty status.

Exception. Drivers for a private motor carrier of passengers (non-business) are excepted from the supporting document requirements.