Murdoch v. UPS (Los Angeles, California)
Danny Murdoch was a supervisor at United Parcel Service (UPS) who claimed that he was improperly classified as exempt and therefore entitled to recover overtime pay.
John Furutani of Furutani & Peters, told the jury that Mr. Murdoch's job was checklist-oriented, and he had no discretion or latitude. "His job was to make sure that all the UPS work methods and procedures were followed. He was told, 'Follow the plan. Don't deviate from the plan. If you deviate from the plan, you are fired.'"
Morever, said Mr. Furutani, Mr. Murdoch was forced to work long hours, six days per week, with some shifts very close together, and without meal and rest breaks. He had no chance to negotiate his salary or working conditions, said Mr. Furutani.
For UPS, Paul Hastings' Elena Baca told the jury that Mr. Murdoch was earning over $80K per year when he left the company, plus bonuses and stock awards that were only available to full-time management. "But when Mr. Murdoch wasn't promoted to the next level of management on the schedule he wanted, he went to FedEx, took a salaried management job over there, quit, and then sued UPS saying that he shouldn't have been paid a salary, that instead he's now due overtime."
The jury unanimously concluded that Mr. Murdoch was an exempt employee.
CVN webcast the UPS wage & hour trial live.
