Tyson Foods, DOL settle ‘donning and doffing’ case

A lengthy legal battle between Springdale-based Tyson Foods and the U.S. Department of Labor over what constitutes off- and on-the-clock compensation may soon end with a negotiated resolution.

Tyson Foods on Thursday (June 3) said it reached an agreement with the DOL “that could serve as a model for the way some workers in the poultry industry are paid.”

The “donning and doffing” case began in May 2002 when the DOL sued Tyson Foods on behalf of workers at the company’s Blountsville, Ala., processing plant. The workers complained they were not being paid for the time it took to put on and take off the safety equipment required for their jobs with Tyson Foods. Tyson Foods maintained — and still does — that the compensation issue is a result of vague guidelines under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

A Birmingham, Ala., jury in November 2009 appeared to support Tyson Foods’ assertions when it awarded the workers $250,000 of a requested $8 million settlement.

The deal between Tyson Foods and the DOL pushes that award to $500,000 in overtime and back wages to be paid to about 3,000 workers. If approved by the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Alabama, the agreement will take effect June 8.

"We value our employees and like other business 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," Ken Kimbro, senior vice president human resources for Tyson Foods, said in a statement. "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."

The Tyson Foods statement also said the pay changes in pay practices will affect between 33 and 47 Tyson plants and as many as 38,000 employees. The company employs 117,000 people at more than 400 facilities and offices around the world.

Details of the agreement include:
• Tyson Foods will gradually modify timekeeping practices at its poultry plants and certain prepared foods plants over the next two and 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 2012, the company will implement a more permanent modification, making arrangements for workers to "clock in" before they put on certain clothing items and "clock out" after the clothing items are taken off; and,

• Tyson Foods employees represented by a union will not be affected by the interim measures. The unions may choose to accept the post-December 2012 system if they "opt-in" during the next 60 days.