Lack of Oxford comma costs Maine company millions in overtime dispute

[aldiboronti]

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A class-action lawsuit about overtime pay for truck drivers hinged entirely on a debate that has bitterly divided friends, families and foes: The dreaded — or totally necessary — Oxford comma, perhaps the most polarizing of punctuation marks.

What ensued in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and in a 29-page court decision handed down Monday, was an exercise in high-stakes grammar pedantry that could cost a dairy company in Portland, Maine, an estimated $10 million.

Below is the wording of the specific state law.

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.

It’s the lack of a comma after shipment that sunk the company The appeals court decided that there was enough uncertainty in the text, absent the comma, to support a ruling in the drivers’ favor (the drivers distributed the food but did not pack the boxes for shipment.)

The language in the law followed guidelines in the Maine Legislative Drafting Manual, which specifically instructs lawmakers to not use the Oxford comma.

I always thought that the reverse was the practice in the US and that the Oxford comma was generally used. In the UK where I live it’s normal to omit it.

[Dewey_Finn]

Existing thread.