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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202)219-8211
A giant meat packer has been ordered to pay back wages in
one of the largest cases against an employer for not paying employees for work
performed. The court order against Iowa Beef Packers (IBP) could amount to more
than $7 million for 23,500 employees at 11 plants in six states.
The workers were not paid for jobs they performed before
and after their regular shifts for more than two years.
The court order includes a permanent injunction against
IBP to prevent the company from committing future violations of the overtime
and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). IBP was
also ordered to pay interest on the wages owed to its workers.
"This case illustrates the importance of protecting
employees' rights to the wages they work so hard to earn," said Labor Secretary
Robert B. Reich.
"Unfortunately, IBP attempted to avoid this basic
obligation to its employees. When that happens, the Labor Department will not
hesitate to use its legal authority to make workers whole," Reich said.
According to the order issued by U.S. District Judge Earl
O'Connor in Kansas City, Kan., IBP failed to pay employees for time worked
putting on, removing, and cleaning protective gear and clothes. The workers
also were not paid for time spent waiting to be issued sharpened knives.
The unpaid pre-shift and post-shift work, which
accumulated from April 1, 1986 to Aug. 1, 1988, averaged 14 minutes per day,
per worker, O'Connor ruled. The U.S. Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division
will compute the back wages and interest.
The employees worked at plants in Boise, Idaho; Joslin,
Ill.; Columbus Junction, Iowa; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Denison, Iowa; Storm Lake,
Iowa; Emporia, Kan.; Garden City, Kan.; Luverne, Minn.; Madison, Neb.; and West
Point, Neb. With the exception of Joslin, Ill., all of these plants are
non-union.
The Labor Department originally filed suit March 31, 1988,
following worker complaints that IBP required them to don and doff protective
gear and clean and sharpen knives on their own time.
The trial was conducted in two parts. Phase I resulted in
a 1993 U.S. District Court decision about the kind of work IBP employees
perform before and after their production shifts for which the company must pay
wages under the FLSA. This decision was affirmed by the Tenth Circuit Court of
Appeals in 1994.
The current memorandum and order, filed March 22, 1996,
covering Phase II, focused on issues such as the amount of time necessary to
perform the required work activities, the amount of back wages due, prejudgment
interest, and the injunction against future violations of the FLSA.
Judge O'Connor found that 14 minutes per day was the
reasonable amount of time necessary to perform the compensable activities of
these workers, who received an average hourly wage of approximately $7.10.
According to the order, IBP's director of industrial
engineering testified in July that the company has continued its practice of
not paying for this type of work. O'Connor noted that IBP "...made no effort to
record or pay the employees for these activities," even after the Tenth Circuit
Court's affirmation in October 1994 that the work was compensable.
Other enforcement actions taken by the Labor Department
against IBP included a 1987 case that was one of the largest at the time under
the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) alleged IBP willfully violated the Act's record-keeping
provisions and sought penalties amounting to nearly $2.6 million.
Two years later, OSHA cited IBP for 620 willful instances
of cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) and sought penalties totaling $3.1
million. In June 1989, IBP agreed to pay $975,000 in OSHA penalties and to
address CTDs and record-keeping requirements at all of its plants.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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