One snack-food carrier has run a looser sleeper-berth rule for a decade — legally. If you drive for McKee Foods Transportation, your split options are wider than everyone else's. Here is the exact text, history and dates.
Under the standard rule (49 CFR 395.1(g)(1)(ii)), a split needs one period of at least 7 consecutive sleeper-berth hours. The MFT exemption drops that floor entirely:
| Covered | Not covered |
|---|---|
| Team drivers employed by McKee Foods Transportation, LLC (USDOT #1025678) | Every other carrier, owner-operator and driver — the exemption belongs to MFT, not to the industry |
| MFT's delivery and backhaul team operations, the operation the exemption was written for | Drivers who used to work for MFT — once you leave, the standard 7-hour berth floor applies again |
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Mar 27, 2015 | Exemption granted (FR 2015-07056): two periods totaling 10 h, neither under 3 hours; effective one year, renewable |
| Apr 20, 2020 | First renewal (FR 2020-08207): same 3-hour floor, 5-year term; safeguards codified — Sabbath shutdown, speed limiters, ELDs, 10-hour driving cap |
| Jul–Oct 2024 | Renewal application; FMCSA reopens the comment period and adds a docket document interpreting the sleeper-berth provisions |
| Apr 9, 2025 | Renewal granted (FR 2025-06060): floor relaxed from 3 h to 2 h, explicitly blessing 8/2, 7/3, 6/4 and 5/5; in force Apr 20, 2025 – Apr 20, 2030 |
FMCSA granted the relief because MFT's operation ships with compensating controls. The renewal records them:
Want to see whether your pairing passes under MFT's terms? The rule checker scores your two periods against all four rule sets at once — standard, FSB pilot, MFT, and the 14-hour pause pilot.
All guides · FSB pilot status · The rule explained · Rule checker · Contact
Sources: Federal Register 2015-07056, 2020-08207, 2025-06060; docket FMCSA-2014-0071. Verified October 2026.
Primary sources only — the statute, form or paper this page is built on.