A three judge panel of the New Jersey Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the Pepsi Bottling Group is guilty of failing to pay over 500 truck drivers for overtime for the past decade. The closely worded ruling upheld charges originally brought by the New Jersey Department of Labor in 1995 that Pepsi was not exempt from paying overtime to drivers who were usually began work at 6 a.m. and often spent twelve hours a day on their delivery routes. Liable for the back wages it owes and up to $100 million in penalties in the New Jersey case, the company is currently confronted with a similar lawsuit in California.
See "Pepsi Bottling Ordered to Pay Overtime to Drivers", GREG WINTER, The New York Times, January 31, 2002