Getting back to the OP.. on the dot 9.50 hours worked is not a violation if you read NMA Art 37 Sec 1(c) the third paragraph lays it out:
“Drivers who choose to opt-in on the 9.5 list shall have the right to file a grievance if the Employer has continually worked a driver
more than nine and one half (9.5) hours per day for any three (3) days in the workweek.” There has to be a line somewhere. 9.50 is toes on the line but it takes 9.51 or better to be over the line.
But I love the analogy of the NDA at 1031.
To take it further, when management complains that one of a drivers three 9.5 “strikes” during the week are just barely over 9.5 I remind them that a 9.5 driver is ideally looking for no overtime so the company is missing the mark by over 90 mins not just a few minutes.