Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5 Million<br />What followed the last comma in the first sentence was the crux of the matter: “packing for shipment or distribution of.” The court ruled<br />that it was not clear whether the law exempted the distribution of the three categories that followed, or if it exempted packing for the shipment or distribution of them.<br />Maine law requires time-and-a-half pay for each hour worked after 40 hours, but it carved out exemptions for:<br />The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:<br />(1) Agricultural produce;<br />(2) Meat and fish products; and<br />(3) Perishable foods.<br />Ending a case that electrified punctuation pedants, grammar goons and comma connoisseurs, Oakhurst Dairy settled an overtime dispute with its drivers<br />that hinged entirely on the lack of an Oxford comma in state law.
