---
kind: "section"
citation: "29 C.F.R. § 1978.101"
title: "29"
number: "1978.101"
heading: "Definitions."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/29/1978.101"
---

# §1978.101. Definitions.

- (a) Act means the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (STAA), as amended.
- (b) Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health or the person or persons to whom he or she delegates authority under the Act.
- (c) Business days means days other than Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.
- (d) Commercial motor carrier means any person engaged in a business affecting commerce between States or between a State and a place outside thereof who owns or leases a commercial motor vehicle in connection with that business, or assigns employees to operate such a vehicle.
- (e) Commercial motor vehicle means a vehicle as defined by [49 U.S.C. 31101(1)](/usc/49/31101.md?p=1).
- (f) Complainant means the employee who filed a STAA complaint or on whose behalf a complaint was filed.
- (g) **Complaint,—** for purposes of § [1978.102(b)(1)](/cfr/29/1978.102.md?p=b-1) and [(e)(1)](/cfr/29/1978.102.md?p=e-1), includes both written and oral complaints to employers, government agencies, and others.
- (h) Employee means a driver of a commercial motor vehicle (including an independent contractor when personally operating a commercial motor vehicle), a mechanic, a freight handler, or an individual not an employer, who:
  - (1) Directly affects commercial motor vehicle safety or security in the course of employment by a commercial motor carrier; and
  - (2) Is not an employee of the United States Government, a State, or a political subdivision of a State acting in the course of employment.
  - (3) The term includes an individual formerly performing the work described above or an applicant for such work.
- (i) Employer means a person engaged in a business affecting commerce that owns or leases a commercial motor vehicle in connection with that business, or assigns an employee to operate the vehicle in commerce, but does not include the Government, a State, or a political subdivision of a State.
- (j) OSHA means the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the United States Department of Labor.
- (k) Person means one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, business trusts, legal representatives, or any other organized group of individuals.
- (l) Respondent means the person alleged to have violated [49 U.S.C. 31105](/usc/49/31105.md).
- (m) Secretary means the Secretary of Labor or persons to whom authority under the Act has been delegated.
- (n) State means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
- (o) Any future statutory amendments that affect the definition of a term or terms listed in this section will apply in lieu of the definition stated herein.

## Notes

### Authority

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 31101 and 31105; Secretary's Order 1-2012 (Jan. 18, 2012), 77 FR 3912 (Jan. 25, 2012); Secretary's Order 01-2020, 85 FR 13186 (March 6, 2020).

### Source

Source: 77 FR 44134, July 27, 2012, unless otherwise noted.