LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND CONTINGENCIES |
3 Months Ended |
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Mar. 31, 2022 | |
| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |
| LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND CONTINGENCIES | LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND CONTINGENCIES We are involved in a number of judicial proceedings and other matters arising from the conduct of our business.
Although there can be no assurances as to the ultimate outcome, we have generally denied, or believe we have meritorious defenses and will deny, liability in all pending matters, including (except as otherwise noted herein) the matters described below, and we intend to vigorously defend each matter. We accrue amounts associated with legal proceedings when and to the extent a loss becomes probable and can be reasonably estimated. The actual costs of resolving legal proceedings may be substantially higher or lower than the amounts accrued on those claims.
For matters as to which we are not able to estimate a possible loss or range of losses, we are not able to determine whether any such loss will have a material impact on our operations or financial condition. For these matters, we have described the reasons that we are unable to estimate a possible loss or range of losses.
Judicial Proceedings
We are a defendant in a number of lawsuits filed in state and federal courts containing various class action allegations under state wage-and-hour laws. At this time, we do not believe that any loss associated with any such matter will have a material impact on our operations or financial condition. One of these matters, Hughes v. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Inc. and United Parcel Service, Inc. had previously been certified as a class action in Kentucky state court. In the second quarter of 2019, the court granted our motion for judgment on the pleadings related to the wage-and-hour claims. The plaintiffs' appeal of this decision was denied; however, in the second quarter of 2022 the plaintiffs were granted discretionary review of these claims by the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Other Matters
In October 2015, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") informed us of an industry-wide inquiry into the transportation of mail under the United States Postal Service International Commercial Air contracts. We cooperated with the DOJ in connection with its inquiry and, in the first quarter of 2022, resolved this matter for an immaterial amount.
In August 2016, Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission ("CNMC") announced an investigation into 10 companies in the commercial delivery and parcel industry, including UPS, related to alleged nonaggression agreements to allocate customers. In May 2017, we received a Statement of Objections issued by the CNMC. In July 2017, we received a Proposed Decision from the CNMC. On March 8, 2018, the CNMC adopted a final decision, finding an infringement and imposing an immaterial fine on UPS. We appealed the decision and, in September 2018, obtained a suspension of the implementation of the decision (including payment of the fine). The appeal is pending. We do not believe that any loss from this matter would have a material impact on our operations or financial condition. We are vigorously defending ourselves and believe that we have a number of meritorious legal defenses. There are also unresolved questions of law and fact that could be important to the ultimate resolution of this matter.
In November 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (the "EPA") sent us an information request related to hazardous waste regulatory compliance at certain of our facilities. The EPA has indicated that it is investigating potential recordkeeping violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at those facilities. We are cooperating with the EPA. An immaterial accrual with respect to this matter is included in our consolidated balance sheets. We do not believe that any loss from this matter would have a material impact on our operations or financial condition, although we are unable to predict what action, if any, might be taken in the future by the EPA as a result of this request.
We are a party in various other matters that arose in the normal course of business. We do not believe that the eventual resolution of these other matters (either individually or in the aggregate), including any reasonably possible losses in excess of current accruals, will have a material impact on our operations or financial condition.
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