Lawyers representing over 60,000 Perdue Farms chicken processing workers announced yesterday [Wednesday] that a settlement of the private class action lawsuit for wage and hour violations against Perdue has been reached.
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Under the new settlement, Perdue will pay US$10m for wages lost by its chicken processing employees and attorneys’ fees and costs. The deal has been granted preliminary approval by the court, but is subject to final approval after notice to the class has been issued.
This new settlement is in addition to the US$10m settlement between the Department of Labour and Perdue announced on 9 May 2002.
Tens of thousands of workers who will not receive money pursuant to the Department of Labour settlement will now receive payments for time spent “donning and doffing”; that is, obtaining, putting on, sanitising and removing protective clothing and gear.
Thousands of employees will also receive payments in addition to those they will receive under the Department of Labour settlement. In addition, unique to the new settlement, Perdue is required to issue retroactive credit under one of its retirement plans for “donning and doffing” work if the credit would improve employees’ or former employees’ eligibility for pension benefits.
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By GlobalDataJames M. Finberg from Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, which served as co-lead counsel for the workers, commented: “The chicken plant workers at Perdue are among the most dedicated and hardest working employees in the nation. They deserve to be paid for each and every hour of work they perform. We are gratified to have been able to obtain significant additional compensation for them.”
Joseph M. Sellers of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, which also served as co-lead counsel, added: “This settlement brings to a close a three-year campaign to end Perdue’s unlawful pay practices and obtain lost wages for its aggrieved chicken processing workers. It also marks the dawn of a new era in which Perdue’s new wage practices will make it a leader in the poultry industry.”
Filed in 1999, the lawsuit alleged that Perdue requires its hourly chicken processing employees to work “off-the-clock” without compensation or retirement benefit contributions in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the federal Fair Labour Standards Act, and various state wage and hour laws.
Perdue required its poultry processing workers to be ready to work, with work clothing and protective safety gear on, when the production line commenced, but failed to pay workers or provide credit under its pension plan for the time spent putting on the gear or cleaning up at the end of day.
Under the settlement, over 60,000 hourly wage employees who work or worked on the assembly line in Perdue chicken processing plants are eligible to submit claims for unpaid wages. Perdue’s 18 chicken processing plants are located in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The lawsuit, entitled Trotter v. Perdue Farms, Case No. 99-893 (RRM) (JJF) (MPT), is pending before US Magistrate Judge Mary Pat Thynge of the US District Court, District of Delaware.
