Tyson Foods settles a 10-year lawsuit with workers in Iowa pork plant for $5.8 million

Tyson Foods has agreed to a $5.8 million settlement with roughly 3,900 of its workers, past and present, at the meat giant’s pork processing plant in Storm Lake, Iowa.

The case was filed in 2007 by employees asking Tyson Foods to pay them for the time they spent putting on and taking off protective gear required in their jobs. The case lingered in the legal system as the company appealed a lower court federal jury award of the $5.8 million back in 2011.

After the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the jury verdict in 2014, Tyson Foods took the case the Supreme Court, who in 2016 sent the case back to the district court to determine who was entitled to share in the settlement as an injured class member.

In March 2016, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that while corporate defendants “may urge adoption of broad and categorical rules governing the use of representative and statistical evidence in class actions, this case provides no occasion to do so.” He said the ruling does not undercut the court’s major 2011 ruling in favor of Wal-Mart Stores. which made it harder to bring class action cases.

Tyson Foods had previously argued that 70% of its class certified as knife-wielding employers were already receiving a fixed amount pay for the time they spend putting on and taking off protective gear.

Tyson Foods spokesman Gary Mickelson confirmed to the media Tuesday (Aug. 1) the settlement will be paid to 3,900 class members who will get an average of $1,700 each. Mickelson does not know when the distribution will begin but said Tyson Foods is “pleased this matter is nearing completion and has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties involved.”