1st Circuit Court strikes blow for Western Civilization, humanity itself, and the Oxford Comma.

This story is from March: but this is the first I’ve heard of it, it’s all that the title promises, and delivers as the feel-good story of the day.

In 2014, three truck drivers sued Oakhurst Dairy, seeking more than four years’ worth of overtime pay that they had been denied. Maine law requires workers to be paid 1.5 times their normal rate for each hour worked after 40 hours, but it carves out some exemptions.

Said exemptions are:

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.

As you might have guessed, the question here is: were there exemptions for packing for shipment AND for distribution, or was there AN exemption for packing for shipment and/or distribution?  The plaintiffs argued for the latter, and the defendants argued for the former. The court ruled in favor of human decency and sanity by declaring that the lack of a Oxford Comma made things too unclear.

WHICH THE LACK OF THE COMMA DOES.

Via Facebook.

One thought on “1st Circuit Court strikes blow for Western Civilization, humanity itself, and the Oxford Comma.”

  1. Heh.
    .
    Yeah, I saw this when it happened, it’s truly beautiful. The language nerds on my FB feed were unusually coherent with joy.
    .
    I’m quite fond of the oxford comma, and am pleased to see its’ use legally mandated by a court of law.
    .
    (even if it means I’m aligned with a union)
    .
    Mew

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