Truckies took the fight to one US company, disputing a clause excluding them from overtime eligibility.
Portland-based Oakhurst Dairy could owe $10 million to 75 dairy-truck drivers in the US state of Maine after three truckies and their legal team pointed out the absence of a comma, resulting in an ambiguous legal clause.
Judge David J Barron upheld an appeal last week in a class-action lawsuit, making mention of the comma and its importance in the case.
The 29-page court decision was given in the 1st United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
The three drivers sued the Oakhurst Dairy in 2014 for four years of unpaid overtime and last week’s decision by the Court of Appeals overturns a previous decision in Oakhurst Dairy’s favour by a Maine District Court.
Maine law requires workers be paid 1.5 times their normal rate after working 40 hours in a week, however the exceptions to this overtime are listed below:
The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:
(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.
As can be seen in the clause, the absence of a comma after ‘packing for shipment’ allows for an interpretation that distribution does not fall under the exemption.
According to media reports, Oakhurst Dairy employs about 200 people and has annual sales of US$110 million.