FedEx will pay $8 million to settle disputed allegations that couriers falsely blamed latedeliveries on increased security following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the USA.
Couriers misused ‘delivery exception codes’ to justify late deliveries to US governmentbuildings as being due to tighter security, the Justice Department said. The practice allegedlystarted after US government building security was improved after the 9/11 attacks and continuedeven after security was later eased or became routine.
The use of the exception codes prevented the government from reclaiming under the company’snormal money-back guarantees, according to justice officials.
The practice was exposed in a lawsuit filed by a FedEx employee five years ago. The employeeclaimed that government shipments were deliberately held back and priority was given to privatecustomers.
But FedEx has denied the allegations and said that it agreed to pay in order to avoid a long,expensive legal case. “FedEx has worked hard to strike a balance between the customer’s need forprompt deliveries and the government’s need for the highest security, which is why the governmentdidn’t identify one shipment where a security delay code had been applied and where there wasn’t asecurity delay,” a spokesman told US media.
