Trending

Missing comma helps dairy workers in labor dispute

Never underestimate the influence of a comma.

In Maine, the Oxford comma helped a group of dairy drivers in a dispute with a company about overtime pay, The Guardian reported.

>> Read more trending news

The Oxford comma is used before the words “and” or “or” in a list of three or more things. Also known as the serial comma, its aficionados say it clarifies sentences in which things are listed.

The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a group of Oakhurst Dairy truck drivers, who sued the company's owners three years ago for unpaid overtime wages, the Bangor Daily News reported. The decision overturns an earlier U.S. District Court judgment in Oakhurst's favor, keeping alive the dispute over $10 million in overtime wages for 75 Oakhurst drivers.

"For want of a comma, we have this case," reads the opening line of First Circuit Judge David Barron's 30-page decision.

The Oxford comma has been debated for many years. Advocates argue the punctuation mark provides clarity and avoids confusion. Detractors say the conjunction serves as enough of a delineation between items, the Bangor Daily News reported.

According to Maine state law, the following activities do not count for overtime pay if they’re involved in “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.”

The drivers argued, due to a lack of a comma between “packing for shipment” and “or distribution,” that the law refers to the single activity of “packing,” not to “packing” and “distribution” as two separate activities. As the drivers distribute — but do not pack — the goods, this would make them eligible for overtime pay.

Previously, a district court had ruled in the dairy company’s favor, who argued that the legislation “unambiguously” identified the two as separate activities exempt from overtime pay, the Bangor Daily News reports. But the appeals judge sided with the drivers.