Source:Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 9/6/17


Smithfield Foods and its Curly’s Foods division have reached a $625,000 settlement with workers who said they were not paid for time spent putting on and taking off protective gear while working at the Curly’s plant in Sioux City, Iowa, where ribs and other meat products are processed, the Sioux City Journal reported.

Five workers sued the company in 2016 alleging it violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying them for time spent donning and doffing the required gear before and after their shifts and during unpaid meal breaks.

Under the settlement approved last month by U.S. District Judge Mark W. Bennett, the five women each will receive $5,000, and the remaining $600,000 will be divided among 460 current and former workers who joined the class-action lawsuit, the newspaper reported. The company admits no wrongdoing as part of the agreement, the paper said.

A Smithfield spokesperson could not be reached by Meatingplace for a comment on the settlement by press time.

Last month in a separate case, Tyson Foods agreed to pay $5.8 million to more than 3,900 current and former workers at its pork plant in Storm Lake, Iowa, for time spent donning and doffing protective gear and clothing.

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