Federal jury sides with Tyson Foods on discrimination suit

A federal jury in Fayetteville has found in favor of Tyson Foods Inc. in a discrimination lawsuit filed by former employee Tammy Hesterberg. Tyson Foods declined to comment on the jury finding.

The plaintiff worked as the former director of customer development for Tyson Foods’ international division until she was fired Aug. 29, 2014 shortly after the company announced plans to acquire Hillshire Brands.

Hesterberg claimed her salary, bonuses, wage increases and other benefits were less than what her male counterparts received for equal work. Hesterberg also says she was promised a promotion to vice president but that never happened because open positions all went to males. Tyson Foods denied all allegations in the complaint.

In her complaint to the court, Hesterberg said the more she asked about the promotion the worse things got, noting that her annual reviews suffered moving from a “ready-to-promote” level to a “needs improvement” rating.

The reason provided to Hesterberg for her termination was “reduction in force” which occurred in August 2014. She said in the filing she was the only female on the Walmart team and the oldest director when she was fired.