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Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 5/4/09
In a recent ruling in Maryland District Court, non-unionized employees of a Mountaire Farms Inc. poultry processing plant were granted back pay for time spent putting on and taking off the gear they are required to wear while working on the processing line, according to court documents.
Some 280 employees of Mountaire's plant in Millsboro, Del., participated in the class-action lawsuit; the damages have yet to be calculated, but based on rate of pay and the approximate time each employee spends donning and doffing their gear, each may be entitled to $625 a year in back pay going back to 2003, for a total of $1.05 million.
The decision, by U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis, follows on a similar ruling reached last year affecting Mountaire's unionized employees.
The judge determined, however, that Mountaire did not act in "bad faith"; if he had ruled otherwise, Mountaire could have been liable for double damages.
"Mountaire was not willfully flouting the law," C. Christopher Brown, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Meatingplace. "On these issues, many cases go both ways."
The case is likely to be appealed, Brown said.
For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.
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