It looks like UPS is getting sued again for forcing employees to work on their own time. UPS has paid out millions of dollars over the years to drivers who work through their lunch hours and then retire or quit and sue for lost wages. Now a fed up account rep has filed suit and is seeking class action status. UPS pushes its people very hard and sometimes they push back. I’m not surprised, are you?

A California woman has sued United Parcel Service Inc., claiming the Atlanta-based shipping giant has withheld some $100 million in overtime wages from account managers it employs across the country.

The suit, filed in federal court in San Diego by Sanford Wittels & Heisler LLP on behalf of UPS account manager Laura Meza, seeks class action.

The law firm said UPS account managers go door-to-door to businesses throughout the country to promote UPS’ portfolio of delivery services. UPS requires these employees to work up to 60 hours a week but claims that these workers do not deserve to get overtime pay.

The suit alleges UPS (NYSE: UPS) does not pay its account managers overtime wages for work in excess of 40 hours a week and eight hours a day; fails to provide these workers with mandatory meal periods and rest breaks; and fails to keep accurate records of the hours these employees work.

“My day starts at 6 a.m., when I have to go to the office to get my daily manifest lists and respond to calls and e-mails from customers and supervisors,” Meza said in a news release. “From 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., I’m out in the field pitching UPS products to customers. When I finally come home, I have to keep responding to work e-mails. And even on weekends, vacations and sick days, I’m routinely expected to do paperwork, calls and e-mails for work. That’s the grinding routine that UPS requires of all of us account managers.”

The suit asks that UPS be forced to pay Meza and other account managers $100 million in total unpaid wages, including all damages permitted by California and federal wage and hour laws.
Triangle Business Journal

I guess the first order of business is you would have had to be around since 97 to remember the strike. It was short by most terms, about 2 weeks. The company was counting on the drivers to cross the picket line. Most did not, but a few did. Most of these drivers were the self serving, run and gun, types UPS loves.
     Most of these drivers thought they could cut a fat hog with management allowing them to be protected for life from the company’s ruthless ways. Ironically about 78% of these drivers have been terminated in the 12 years since. Most ultimately turned to the Teamsters for help to try to keep their jobs, but their infractions were so major, and the company so ruthless, and unforgiving, and forgetful of what these people did for them that today they work elsewhere.
     Many of these sell outs even campaigned for Right-To Work for less legislation testifying that they didn’t need the union. Yet they were the first to cry when they were caught stealing from the company, or getting their second DUI while in the company “spin-dry”. They immediately whined to the Teamsters, then just as quickly started to bad mouth the Teamsters when it turned out their violations were so egregious that the company simply would not back off of the terminations. The Teamsters took their cases to the limit just to be sure these people were given their rights under the Union Contract.
     Isn’t it ironic that the people that fought the Union the most, received the most attention in the end.
     The observation I make is a Scab is a personality trait more than an action. These people cannot stand by anyone else. They seem to have abusive tendencies much like the company.
                                                                      As a long time UPSer my observation is:
                                               Be a Scab! Get fired!

This is my favorite blog rant on why women love the UPS man. 

       You saw her in the movie Legally Blonde, right? The manicurist with the crush on the UPS man. Millions of American women can relate: we have a secret, shameful, UPS man fetish. Now, granted, none of us have ever had a UPS man that looked like that one in Legally Blonde. But even though UPS men on film are exaggerated in the looks department, is there any class of male in the whole world with more allure than the brown-Bermuda-shorted, brown-socked, occasionally hatted, UPS delivery man? My heart begins to pound whenever I see that brown truck coming up the driveway, being driven by him. And I pity European women who have no UPS men.
        Or do they? This is a disturbing thought, because Frenchwomen might woo the UPS man with wine, the Italian women might ply him with panetta and prosciutto. The UPS man won’t stop for my warmed-over pinto beans and flat Coke from a 2-liter bottle that the kids didn’t screw closed all the way.
        So let us hope that UPS has not gone global. Not that it matters. Even without competition from foreign women, my love for UPS men will be forever unrequited, and I know it. There is a sort of distancing manuever, a guarded friendliness, in my personal UPS men (I have three) that suggests they have seen every pathetic overture a lonely woman might make, and some from the men too. And every damn UPS man in the friggin’ force is married, unless they issue those gold bands standard with the uniform.
        This, however, does not put me off. I adore UPS men. I worship UPS men. I’m divorced now, but I felt the same way about the brown-suited darlings when I was married. I would jump into the truck with the UPS man in a hot second and be whisked away to deliver packages in romantic Flatshrub, Kentucky. Kevin James in TV’s King of Queens can carry an extra 40 pounds around, be married to a hot babe way out of his league, and female viewers never even notice. You can get away with a belly if you’re a UPS man, or baldness, or, very likely, leprosy. Women find you scrum-tiddly-umptious.
        I have some theories as to why UPS men are so sexy. As previously lamented, they are all married, and married men, as a class, have it all over the life-forms that you can find clinging to the fronts of singles bars, like fungi, from sea to shining sea. So, number one sexy secret of the UPS man? That oh-so-irresistible unavailability factor. Your UPS man’s been road-tested, in more ways than one, and some dame, somewhere, awaits his safe return. Prays for it, fervently, at her church prayer group every Wednesday night: “Lord, I pray for the safety of my sweet Robert as he does his rounds.” You also know–sight unseen–that sweet Robert has a picture of various and sundry rugrats taped to his dashboard, of whom he is the devoted father. He will not even look at you; he’s such a single-minded Provider. He will simply drop off your package, bask in your lustful admiration and thanks for 10 seconds, and be on his way.
        But here is the second secret of his sex appeal: He is providing for the praying wife and the dashboard rugrats, yes, but in your deep subconscious left-over from the cavewoman days, he’s providing for you, too. Never mind that you paid for the merchandise he’s delivering. You even paid for the shipping, and through the nose at that. Some part of you believes, on a very primal level, that the UPS man is hauling life-saving provisions (okay, it’s ankle boots and a funky belt that you don’t really need, but that’s not the point) to the mouth of the cave, and setting them down in a muscular fashion. This triggers, in you, a response that dates from at least the Paleolithic, i.e., gratitude, and an intense desire to drag his brown-clad booty into the “cave” to show him just how grateful you are.
        This begs a question, however: why do only UPS men affect women in this way? Why not male letter carriers? Why not the Fed-Ex guys? They’re always married, and they bring stuff to your door, right?
        Well, I’ll admit that the United States Postal Service does have that old rep that neither snow, nor sleet, nor slush, nor sandstorm, nor simultaneous smiting by all of the above, shall divert them from their appointed rounds. That’s impressive. And Fed-Ex has much cooler trucks than UPS, with a blue and green on white color scheme, instead of yellow on brown. But a man from USPS or Fed-Ex would have to look like Brad Pitt to outdo sexy secret of UPS men number three: those brown shorts and brown knee socks. They are hotter than hot. They are reminiscent of Angus Young of AC/DC with his Aussie schoolboy stage duds. They make us feel all tender toward the UPS man; make us want to cook him a nice big pot of soup. Those darling shorts and socks make the UPS man appeal to women simultaneously in our desire to be pampered (with packages) and our maternal instincts. It’s a double whammy.
        He’s a good, good boy, the UPS man, and you wish you could take care of him for just a little while, and/or be the one woman in the tri-state delivery area who is womanly enough to make him break bad for, say, half an hour. But he is always in a hurry, and perhaps this is his greatest attraction. He is a will-o-the-wisp, ephemeral as a butterfly. You get just a glimpse of those socks and shorts, just enough to drive you wild–and he is gone.
        What about when UPS men switch to long pants in the winter? It doesn’t matter. We are still picturing them in those adorable shorts and socks. Which are–not to put too fine a point on it–the exact color of chocolate.
        The UPS man: I could just eat him up.

the_Old_Woman_in_a_Shoe blogger

Here is a typical map of a drivers delivery day. The driver reportedly was on Parker Rd. making a delivery. When you look at this scene nothing seems out of the ordinary. The indicator is on Parker Rd. and that is where the driver recorded a stop. No sweat? Just wait.

The ever sharp I.E. guy decides the driver is a dirtbag, and/or the driver runs over on a regular basis, so the I.E. guy decides he is going to take a closer look at D.B. driver so he Zooms in. On the first Zoom the I.E. dude thinks he has found pay dirt. Look for yourself.

In fact Telematics has shown that the driver left his trace for some reason. The I.E. guy thinks he has found another lieing, cheating, thief, not doing what the company is paying him big money to do. The I.E. guy is going to nail this jerk for stealing time, and fuel from the company, so he decides to look even closer.

The I.E. guy really thinks he’s got the driver nailed. The map really shows what a time thief the driver is. He said he was at Wal Mart making a delivery, when in fact the map shows he is on Dransfeldt Ave, not at Wal Mart which has a Parker Rd. address. What a dirtbag this driver is. The driver is called into the managers office where he is confronted for stealing time, and  from the company and falsifying his records. The Steward is present, and the Division Manager is present. The driver has been called every kind of thief, and cheat for being off area, and not following his trace, and not recording any break, and altering his records. What a dirtbag he is.
                                                                                               But wait!
It turns out the driver was at Wal Mart. The shopping center is big, and when the Zoom key is used, it looks like the driver is way off area. The store has a Parker Road address, even though it sits off of that street. The fact is, the company is letting him know they think he is a dirtbag for doing his job. How proud is this driver to be a UPSer now! Why would he come to work with a good atitude, and care about the future of the company when they go out of their way to make him out to be a lieing, cheating, thief.
                                    Welcome to the wonderful world of Telematics!
(images by Mapquest)

   A new survey shows 80 percent of employees frequently show up to work while sick. Meghan McNeeley, Division Director for Office Team in Colorado, sorted through the results for us. She says a mere eight percent of respondents said they never come into the office when feeling under the weather.

        Survey respondents were asked: “How frequently do you go into work when youre feeling sick?” 
  Their responses:
  Very frequently: 49 percent
  Somewhat frequently: 31 percent
  Somewhat infrequently: 12 percent
  Not at all: 8 percent
        McNelley says managers acknowledge that ailing employees often come into work, but the practice may be more common than many realize.

        In a separate poll of 150 senior executives — including those from human resources, finance and marketing departments — just 21 percent of respondents said they thought sick employees came into work very frequently when ill.

        Executives were asked: “How often do you think employees come to work when they feel sick?” 
  Their responses:
  Very frequently: 21 percent
  Somewhat frequently: 51 percent
  Somewhat infrequently: 25 percent
  Dont know/no answer: 3 percent
        Many employees fear they’ll be disciplined if they stay at home when they’re not feeling well, according to McNeeley. However, she says its preferable to take a day or two to recuperate rather than risk exacerbating a condition or passing an illness on to coworkers. 
        
        With greater flu concerns this year, many companies are actively encouraging sick employees to stay home. McNelley believes managers should let employees know that staying away from the office is the right thing to do when they are ill. Actions often speak louder than words — if supervisors show up when they’re feeling poorly, employees may feel pressure to do the same.
9NEWS

UPS Makes $445 Million in 2nd Quarter

UPS announced after-tax profits of $445 million for the second quarter of 2009, up from $401 million in the first quarter.

In the worst economy in our lifetimes, UPS made $846 million in after-tax profits in the first six months of the year. By comparison, FedEx lost $779 million from December 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009–the most recent six months for which the company’s earnings info is available.
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Remember this report is provided to you to let you know this company is making this kind of money even though you are all lieing, cheating, theiving, time stealing, dishonest drivers. At least that is what they think of you. Yes they say it all of the time.