Posted on 03/16/2017 1:41:39 PM PDT by RummyChick
A bunch of dairy delivery drivers in Maine say the state's overtime law is unclear cause of a missing Oxford comma ... and no less than the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.
The drivers are suing their employer -- Portland-based Oakhurst Dairy -- for unpaid overtime wages, arguing they qualify for that dough because of the confusing way Maine's labor law is punctuated ... without a comma to distinguish who exactly is exempt.
The part of the law they're dissecting says overtime doesn't apply to employees involved in the "canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agriculture produce; (2) meat and fish products; and (3) perishable foods." The drivers say because there's no comma before the words "or distribution" ... it means the law only applies to packers, not folks doing the actual distribution. At first, a lower court sided with Oakhurst, saying the law was quite clear ... but the appeals court said otherwise and sent it back down for further proceedings. That makes this case crazy, amazing, and downright weird as hell.
I believe in the Oxford comma.
How we moved away from using it is beyond me.
I thought it was the law, after “eats, shoots, and leaves”.
Comma, comma, comma, comma, comma, chameleon
You come and go......................
I guess the 5th circuit believes in Bad Comma............
Me too, although it reads oddly without "and" before the last item in the list.
You can distribute without shipping but shipping includes distribution.
ALSO
Commas are your friend....
The Judge said the lawyer is an idiot.
The Judge, said the lawyer, is an idiot.
Capitals in the correct place can also be your friend...
Bill helped his Uncle Jack off his horse.
Bill helped his Uncle jack off his horse.
“canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agriculture produce; (2) meat and fish products; and (3) perishable foods.”
I’m not sure this exemption actually exempts anyone at all. Everyone is so focused on the comma they missed the “and”. I’d argued that unless you are packing all three of these products you are not exempt.
It’s still a list, and a list has a last item (even if compound), and the last items in the list should be preceded by “and”, IMO.
This thread really brought out the grammar nazies! ,^)
In this case the series is an ‘or’ series, but the same rules apply as for an ‘and’ series....but at least it explains why there is not ‘and’.
Not true in a legal document.
Or means or
and means and
and/or means and or or
and a common means a difference.
Comma is your friend..Typos are bad...
Here is the problem: “storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: “ shipment or distribution. the truckers are the distribution, but the absence of the comma after ‘shipment’ changes the meaning from “packing for shipping” and “distribution” to “packing for (either) shipment or distribution”, not distribution itself, hence the ruling.
auto correct is worse
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