PORTLAND (LN) — U.S. District Judge Stacey Neumann denied in part FedEx Ground’s motion for summary judgment in a Fair Labor Standards Act overtime lawsuit, ruling the company must prove whether delivery drivers operated heavy vehicles rather than forcing the plaintiff to produce missing weight records.
Neumann’s May 15 order in Eppich v. FedEx Ground Package System Inc. resolved key disputes over the statute of limitations, the Motor Carrier Act exemption, and damages calculations for driver Frederick Eppich.
The court granted summary judgment on FLSA claims for wages accruing prior to July 10, 2017, finding Eppich failed to demonstrate equitable tolling to extend the two-year limitations period for those specific weeks. However, the judge denied the motion regarding wages accruing after that date, holding that a genuine dispute of material fact exists regarding whether FedEx’s violations were willful, thereby extending the limitations period to three years.
Regarding the Motor Carrier Act exemption, Neumann denied FedEx’s request for summary judgment on weeks where vehicle weight data was unknown. She held that placing the burden on the employee to prove he drove "small vehicles" weighing 10,000 pounds or less would incentivize employers to maintain incomplete records. FedEx argued that Eppich, who drove for independent service providers (ISPs), could not prove he operated small vehicles during 682 of his 1,364 workdays.
Neumann declined to follow a District of Massachusetts precedent, Roy v. FedEx Ground Package Systems, Inc., which placed the burden on the employee. She reasoned that FedEx maintains a database of "scanner data" and can cross-reference vehicle numbers against its internal system to determine gross vehicle weight ratings.
"To hold otherwise and place the burden on the plaintiff to produce such information would create a clear incentive for employers to not retain any records regarding vehicle weight, thereby insulating themselves against any future overtime claims," Neumann wrote.
The judge noted that federal regulations require employers to maintain accurate records and that shifting the burden to the employee contradicts the FLSA’s purpose of protecting workers from substandard wages.
On the statute of limitations, Neumann denied FedEx’s request to bar claims accruing after July 10, 2017, finding sufficient evidence of a factual dispute regarding FedEx’s knowledge of its pay practices to support an inference of willfulness. However, she rejected Eppich’s argument for equitable tolling to preserve claims accruing before July 10, 2017, stating that tolling must be determined individually and Eppich failed to show due diligence or extraordinary circumstances.
The court also denied summary judgment on Eppich’s Maine state law claims, noting the state’s six-year statute of limitations covers all alleged damages. Additionally, Neumann declined to rule on the proper method for calculating damages, leaving the question of how to calculate overtime pay for trial, pending resolution of underlying liability issues.
Eppich originally joined a class action filed in 2018 in the Western District of Pennsylvania. His case was severed and transferred to Maine in October 2025 after the Pennsylvania court granted FedEx’s motion for separate trials.