If you’ve ever thought you don’t need to pay attention to punctuation, think again! One little comma can change the entire meaning of a sentence — or a whole contract!
A company in Maine learned this the hard way last month. A trucking company was faced with a class-action lawsuit concerning overtime pay from three truck drivers seeking four years’ worth of overtime pay. The company suffered a setback worth millions of dollars when the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that a missing Oxford comma qualified the drivers for the overtime pay they were seeking. The particular law at the crux of the dispute states that overtime rules do not apply to:
“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.”
The argument revolved around the punctuation (or lack thereof) in the “packing for shipment or distribution” clause. Did the law mean to exempt overtime for packing for shipment or distribution or for packing for shipment and then also separately for distribution? A comma after “shipment” (also known as the Oxford, or serial, comma) would have changed the entire meaning of the sentence. In this case, the drivers didn’t pack items for shipment or distribution, but they did distribute the items! Without the comma, the Court of Appeals interpreted that portion of the sentence as one complete clause, thereby allowing drivers to collect millions of dollars’ worth of overtime pay!
So the next time you think you can skip that comma, just think, changing “Let’s eat Grandma” to “Let’s eat, Grandma” can save a person’s life! Make sure the attorney you hire to represent you understands that punctuation and attention to detail is critical in ensuring a successful agreement!
Here’s a link to the New York Times article detailing the Maine case: