Tyson Foods, Inc.M.H. Fox v. Tyson Foods, Inc. Cohen Milstein currently represents over 5000 employees who seek unpaid overtime and who work or worked in Tyson Foods' chicken-processing plants. These employees are not paid for the time they spend putting on, taking off, cleaning, and sanitizing the sanitary and protective equipment that they must wear to perform their jobs on the chicken-processing line. In essence, Tyson has argued that putting on, taking off, cleaning, and sanitizing this gear is not "work," or is "preliminary and postliminary" to the employees' jobs. But both Chief Magistrate Judge Putnam and United States District Judge Bowdre of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama have rejected Tyson's arguments that its employees should not be paid for this time, which can total up to 20 minutes a day. In a similar case against Perdue Farms, Cohen Milstein's representation resulted in a $10 million settlement for the workers, as well as an agreement by Perdue to pay its chicken-processing employees for time spent putting on and taking off their protective gear. If you are an hourly-paid employee that has questions about whether you are entitled to pay for activities (like putting on protective gear, downloading assignments at the beginning of the day, or cleaning or putting away tools at the end of the day) that your employer requires but does not pay you for doing, please do not hesitate to call Charles Tompkins, one of the attorneys at Cohen Milstein representing Tyson Foods chicken-processing workers and focusing on employment law, at 1-888-347-4600 or email ctompkins@cmht.com.
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