class action lawsuit against UPS

[sendagain]

Has anyone else gotten the letter from a lawyer developing a class action lawsuit against UPS for preventing drivers from taking breaks and lunches? It was conveniently filed in the liberal court system of California. You will be automatically a member of the suit unless you opt out by letter; this covers drivers who drove between 1999 and 2005. This looks to me like some lawyer looking to cash in big on a frivilous lawsuit. I urge drivers to spread the word to others to opt out of the suit, thereby sending a message to money hungry snakes to find their cash cow elsewhere.

 

[speeddemon]

ahem, you obviously havent been to my center. Its almost impossible to make service to all our customers in my center because the dispatch is so heavy. They know that those of us who actually do CARE about our customers will skip it to service them. I hope it teaches UPS to look at that. Good luck to them.

 

[upsace]

We have to force drivers to take a lunch and they hate it. They would rather skip their meal and have that extra hour at home or doing something else they like.

 

[dannyboy]

UPSACE

That is great, as long as they get paid for the time they should be on lunch. If not, that is something they need to change.

We can not do it all the time here, but if you need to work your lunch, we put in a code 5, actual time taken for lunch. That way, you can put in a 15 minute break for lunch and that is all they take away.

d

 

[sendagain]

I always took my lunch and breaks; I may have let them go until all the work was done, but I took them. I never had the company tell me I couldn't. I suppose if a driver chose to have some longer conversations at some of his stops, he might have to give up some of that break time. I have even noticed a driver parked in my neighborhood for more than an hour, what he is up to, I can only speculate. Some lawyer trying to drag all UPS drivers into a huge lawsuit is only for his benefit. FRIVILOUS!

 

[moreluck]

The lawyers are looking for big bucks. They try to drag a huge number of people into these class action suits. If and when the courts award millions of dollars, the actual award to an individual can be as low as a few bucks.....However, the lawyer gets 30-40% of the entire award. It just reminds me of the "ambulance chasing" image that lawyers have.

 

[spidey]

The lawyers are looking for big bucks. They try to drag a huge number of people into these class action suits. If and when the courts award millions of dollars, the actual award to an individual can be as low as a few bucks.....However, the lawyer gets 30-40% of the entire award. It just reminds me of the "ambulance chasing" image that lawyers have.

Excellent point. The lawyer bringing this on might make several million dollars. The individual driver might get a couple of bucks. Meaning $25 - $150. Not worth selling your soul. If you are really pissed, been FORCED to skip your lunches, breaks, etc, hire a lawyer and run your own case. This is Bull****. I would rather throw $100k down the sewer than pay it to a punk like this. I made $26k last year. I worked my ass off for this. I owe this company a great benifits program, a retirement fund.... I still bleed brown a little. But my girls get free lunches, I still feed them rice and... well.... rice one week a month, but I'll be DAMNED if I'll help pad the pockets of some back alley lawyer for anything. I'd rather starve than have someone make money on my back.

Part-time management, BTW.

 

[Hangingon]

I'd love it if we could put in a Code 5, but in our center it's taken out whether you take a lunch or not. Our center manager had a driver in his office and was trying to get him to agree to not take lunch anymore to get his numbers up. They were still going to dock his pay for the lunch but since the only way he could get his numbers close to what they want is to work an extra hour off the clock. I was a bit surprised the suggestion was made in front of a shop steward, but I guess he felt no harm in asking.

 

[sendagain]

Telling a guy to skip his lunch to get his numbers up should result in the firing of a supervisor.

 

[trickpony1]

"...it's taken out whether you take a lunch or not", could that be called stealing?

Taking lunch is the most important thing I do during the day. Forget the customers, forget service....but then I'm a feeder driver who doesn't have to "run and gun" like pkg drivers.

The human body needs to rest and refuel. It's not good to run like a chicken with it's head off all day long....especially when it destroys the pkg drivers body and pads the pocket ( through bonus) of the supervisor who kicks back, laughs and counts his money

 

[no one]

Who cares how much the lawyers are making on this lawsuit. Your not paying the bill. It's time that ups management pay for treating thier employees like slaves. Weather the drivers get a dime or not, ups managment should be punished for thier actions. And paying the legal fees is good enough for me.

 

[mittam]

like the teamsters do?????

 

[toonertoo]

Spidey, I agree. Class action suits are a lawyers dream. And it does not fix anyones problem who has truly been violated. Its a joke, I did get a letter, and told them emphatically No. Some would say 26k for pt is good, and it may be, but Ill bet as PT mgmt, you work harder and are capable of much more than 2000 a month plus a two week bonus.

 

[DS]

I'd love it if we could put in a Code 5, but in our center it's taken out whether you take a lunch or not. .

Hangingon,as far as I know, your supervisor cannot change your time card.Its stealing time,only backwards.Its so easy to pick up
the phone and either request a code 05 or help with your deliveries so you can take lunch.If they say no,your next move would be to tell them that you will be taking lunch and will have missed deliveries.If they are still on your case ,a quick call to that 1-800# and you will not see that sup anymore.
They will either fire him,or move him to Buffalo .

 

[Box jockey]

I'd love it if we could put in a Code 5, but in our center it's taken out whether you take a lunch or not.

Here in Idaho it is the same they take out lunch after 4hrs that is 4hr and 1 minute they take out a full hour and were paid for 3. Really sucks doing the air route when the driver goes on vacation b/c you wrk just over 4 so instead of just giving us a no lunch if you want to get paid for time worked youve gotta take a lunch. sux. some of the other guys will just letem have the hour but not me it IS stealing to take my time/money without permission.

But......this is the best job Ive had, even with the garbage that comes with it. Theres things to complain about at EVERY job but hey I have much less desirable employment elsewhere.

 

[Braveheart]

Telling a guy to skip his lunch to get his numbers up should result in the firing of a supervisor.

without question!

 

[Braveheart]

Here in Idaho it is the same they take out lunch after 4hrs that is 4hr and 1 minute they take out a full hour and were paid for 3. Really sucks doing the air route when the driver goes on vacation b/c you wrk just over 4 so instead of just giving us a no lunch if you want to get paid for time worked youve gotta take a lunch. sux. some of the other guys will just letem have the hour but not me it IS stealing to take my time/money without permission.

But......this is the best job Ive had, even with the garbage that comes with it. Theres things to complain about at EVERY job but hey I have much less desirable employment elsewhere.

I would call Wage and Labor Board. Either you better not clock out past 4 hours or you better not come back until you actually take the 1 hour lunch. They are stealing from you. We had a full time manager changing time cards of the part timers to only 5 hours so they couldn't get OT. A few part timers got together and filed, called 1-800# and called the Wage and Labor Board. He got fired and they got paid! It was a few years ago and it was rough on us for a while but in the end we won! Nothing good is ever easy.

 

[Mallrat]

Drivers in the state of Washington have won 2 lawsuits in the past 10 years over the lunch issue. Each time, the drivers received large checks, not $100-$200, but $2500-$10,000. Before the lawsuits, drivers were required to take an hour lunch. (Meaning....Record an hour lunch even if you took a 1/2 hr lunch or no lunch.) After the first lawsuit it became policy the driver could take a 1/2 hr lunch if needed, not the mandatory hour. (UPS really didn't want us sitting around for an hour.) After the second lawsuit, UPS has the Diad remind the driver that its time to take their lunch and the Diad will not allow you to sheet(Scan) pkgs during your lunch period.

I guess my point here is, UPS "knowingly" takes advantage of the drivers who have a life...family, play sports, etc...that they will skip their lunch to get in earlier. UPS only has the Diads programmed to go to a "Lunch Mode" in the states that have successfully sued UPS. WHY DOESN'T UPS HAVE THE LUNCH SOFTWARE IN ALL DIADS NATIONWIDE??????

 

[dillweed]

Wow, interesting. There is a reason for luchtime and it is, as spidey says, to rest the mind and body. Every place I've worked did require a lunch break after 4 hours, saying it's law and for good reason. In our line of business a full hour seems too much but half an hour would be great.

I'm an inside worker who drives air part time, sometimes gong to eight hours per day. I'd better be watching that paystub to make sure they are not taking lunch out of my check! Probably not, as I use time clock for the inside work and diad for the driving but I'll be watching.

I'd be suspicious of the class action law suit. And I'd tell any sup who told me to work during unpaid time to lay off the crack. dw

 

[Ruralbrownman]

There was a similar class action suit about 10 years ago. I think it started out west and ended up nationwide. It was also over the lunch issue. However I think you had to sign off on something if you took the check so you could not collect on a similar suit in the future. As I recall the checks in that one were over $1500.