Purse pirates: UPS ripped off seasonal workers with unfair pay practices, lawsuit alleges

NEW YORK (AP) — UPS stole tens of millions of dollars in wages from seasonal workers who helped deliver packages during the shipping giant’s busy holiday season, forcing some to work after their shifts began and deducting pay for lunch breaks they never took, New York Attorney General Letitia James said. claimed in a lawsuit Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in state court in Manhattan, accuses UPS of “repeatedly and persistently” failing to properly compensate driver assistants who assist with deliveries and seasonal support drivers who use their own vehicles to make deliveries. James estimates that UPS has deprived tens of thousands of seasonal workers of wages totaling $45 million over the past six years.

The lawsuit seeks back pay and penalties, as well as a court order requiring UPS to end after-hours work and change its timekeeping and payroll practices. The company, known for its brown trucks and uniforms, delivered an average of 22.4 million packages a day and generated $91.1 billion in revenue last year, according to its website.

“We often don’t think about these employees when we open our gifts for the holidays,” James said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit. “And these individuals struggle every day to make ends meet.”

Georgia-based UPS said in a statement that it was aware of the lawsuit and “takes all accusations of wrongdoing seriously and denies unsubstantiated allegations of intentional underpayment of UPS employees.”

“We offer industry-leading wages and benefits to our more than 26,000 employees in New York and are committed to complying with all applicable laws,” the statement said.

James, a Democrat, said he began investigating UPS in 2023 after the employee union, Teamsters Local 804, raised concerns about the company’s treatment of seasonal workers. These workers are employed temporarily from October to January.

Josh Pomeranz, the union’s chief operating officer, said that while there is no evidence that the company’s upper management was involved in, knew about, or condoned the wage theft allegation, “these are certain practices that you have to actively ignore to avoid seeing it happen.”