Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 6/3/10

Tyson Foods Inc. said today the company and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) have reached an agreement that might provide a model for how some workers in the poultry industry are paid.

The parties filed a joint motion in federal court to resolve a donning-and-doffing lawsuit filed by the DOL in May 2002 seeking back wages at Tyson's Blountsville, Ala., poultry plant and prospective injunctive relief at the company's other poultry processing plants.

Under the agreement, Tyson will gradually adjust timekeeping practices at its poultry plants and certain prepared food plants over the next two and a half years. The company will provide 8 or 12 minutes of extra pay per shift on an interim basis to certain hourly processing line workers. By December of 2012, Tyson will implement a more permanent modification, allowing workers to clock in before they put on certain gear and clock out after taking it off.

"We value our employees and, like other businesses across the country, have strived to comply with federal wage and hour laws that are not precise in their description of what activities are compensable," said Ken Kimbro, senior vice president of human resources at Tyson Foods. "We've decided to resolve this case and modify our pay practices for certain jobs in order to avoid the continued expense and disruption of further litigation."

Lawsuit
The government had alleged that Tyson violated federal law by not paying workers overtime for putting on and taking off sanitary and protective gear before and after their shifts. Tyson denied any wrongdoing, citing an ongoing nationwide legal debate over what types of activities are compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In November of 2009, a federal jury in Birmingham, Ala., found no evidence of a recordkeeping violation by Tyson and awarded only $250,000 of the $8 million the DOL sought to pay 3,000 workers overtime wages over a 10-year period. (See Tyson to pay $250,000 in Ala. donning-doffing suit, Meatingplace, Nov. 6, 2009.)

The pay practices outlined in the ensuing resolution are expected to affect between 33 and 47 Tyson plants nationwide and as many as 38,000 employees. The interim measures will not apply to Tyson poultry workers represented by a union, but union members can choose to accept the post-December 2012 system if they opt in during the next 60 days.

Payments

Also as part of the agreement, Tyson will pay $500,000 to resolve all monetary and injunctive relief issues in the case, including all claims for back pay. DOL will distribute the payments, ranging from $1 to as much as $2,500, to some 3,000 current and former Blountsville workers.

The agreement would take effect June 8, 2010, if it is approved by the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Alabama.

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