UPS steals millions from New York seasonal delivery workers, Attorney General Letitia James alleges in lawsuit

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday filed a lawsuit against UPS, alleging the company stole millions in wages from thousands of seasonal delivery workers for years.

An investigation opened in 2023 found the logistics company failed to accurately track hours worked, required off-the-clock labor from its workers and manipulated timekeeping systems to reduce paid hours, the attorney general’s office said.

These actions saved UPS millions while robbing seasonal workers trying to support their families, James said at a news conference in Manhattan on Monday.

"They earned every dollar of their wages, and UPS had no right to take those dollars away," she said.

The state is seeking restitution for current and former seasonal workers and an injunction that requires UPS to adopt reforms to prevent these issues from happening again, James said.

UPS acknowledged the state's suit in an email, and said while the company takes "all accusations of wrongdoing seriously,"  it denies "the unfounded allegation of intentionally underpaying UPS employees."

"We offer industry-leading pay and benefits to our more than 26,000 employees in New York, and we remain committed to following all applicable laws," company spokeswoman Natasha Amadi said in an email. 

James on Monday described temporary employees working long hours during the busiest months of the year — October through January — at more than 50 facilities across the state, earning paychecks that did not reflect the time they spent on the job.

UPS allegedly delayed clock-ins, auto-deducted lunch breaks that weren’t taken, retroactively edited time sheets and avoided paying over time, she said, adding that some workers were told to clock out and then forced to continue working for hours.

The impacted workers include assistants who help full-time drivers and seasonal drivers who use their personal vehicles to make deliveries, according to a news release from the attorney general's office.

Joshua Pomeranz, director of operations at Teamsters Local 804, said on Monday that many of the seasonal workers had never met a union official and were unaware of their rights.

The union reported the alleged violations to the state after drivers raised the alarm, he said. 

Many of the seasonal employees willing to take on the low-paying work are financially vulnerable, Pomeranz added, lacking cellphones or steady places to live.

"They are taking this job because they need to," he said. "It’s another day of trying to scrape by."

In Local 804's jurisdiction — which covers Long Island, all New York City boroughs except for Staten Island, and the area stretching from Westchester to Yorktown — UPS hires 5,000 seasonal employees each year from Oct. 15 through Jan. 15, Pomeranz told Newsday. UPS has three facilities on Long Island. 

The union does not know exactly how many workers have been impacted by wage theft, but the number is likely tens of thousands over the past six years, he said.

That number encompasses Long Island facilities and workers, said John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor.

"The lawsuit filed by the AG alleging widespread wage theft targeting seasonal UPS workers is deeply troubling, particularly because these workers are often among the most vulnerable in our economy," he said in an email. "When corporations are held to account, working people, and our entire economy, are stronger for it."

Wage theft has been considered a form of larceny in New York since 2023, when legislation passed to allow prosecutors to seek stronger penalties against offenders.

Nearly $1 billion in  pay is lost to wage theft each year in New York, the state said in the legislation.

The practice affects tens of thousands of workers, especially immigrants without documentation and low-income workers who are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, the state said.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers personal finance and affordability for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.