The truck drivers argued that 'packing for shipment or distribution' referred to a single job, and that since they only delivered goods rather than packing them, they were owed overtime pay.
Notes on verification
Directly confirmed by the First Circuit's opinion text in O'Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy (2017), corroborated by multiple independent legal and news sources including govinfo.gov, CourtListener, Justia, NBC News, and NPR.
Sources
- A Missing Oxford Comma Just Changed the Course of a Court Case (smithsonianmag.com)
- https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4374922/oconnor-v-oakhurst-dairy/ (courtlistener.com)
- https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca1-16-01901/pdf/USCOURTS-ca1-16-01901-0.pdf (govinfo.gov)
- https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca1/16-1901/16-1901-2017-03-13.html (law.justia.com)
- https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/06/the-law-and-punctuation/ (blogs.loc.gov)
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oxford-comma-defenders-rejoice-judge-bases-ruling-punctuation-n734371 (nbcnews.com)