LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

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 assurance 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 have appealed this decision.

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 ("USPS") International Commercial Air contracts. In October 2017, we received a Civil Investigative Demand seeking certain information relating to our contracts. The DOJ has indicated it is investigating potential violations of the False Claims Act or other statutes. We are cooperating with the DOJ. 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 any government authorities as a result of their investigation.

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, UPS received a Statement of Objections issued by the CNMC. In July 2017, UPS 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. UPS 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 May 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) sent us an information request related to hazardous waste regulatory compliance at certain of our facilities. The EPA indicated that it was investigating potential recordkeeping violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at those facilities. We have settled this matter with the payment of an immaterial amount.

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.