Suit claims Tyson owes $4 billion in back wages
Food processor denies claim it shorted workers
ROY L. WILLIAMSNews staff writer
The Birmingham News
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Cochran Firm, which has a Birmingham office, has filed multiple lawsuits accusing Arkansas-based poultry giant Tyson Foods Inc. and other processors of owing thousands of employees more than $4 billion in back pay, the law firm said Monday.
The suits, representing clients in a multistate area of the Southeast, include 16 filed in Alabama and nine in Georgia. Five of the Alabama lawsuits specifically name Tyson Foods.
Thousands of claims for workers in the poultry-processing industry have been filed since a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision said workers may be given back wages for time required to be on the job that was not fully compensated.
Claims by the Cochran Firm, founded by the late Johnnie Cochran, seek attorneys' fees and damages.
Annual wages for poultry workers based on a 40-hour week average $19,600.
"I estimate that if workers' hours are recorded correctly, workers could earn an additional $6,000 to $8,000 annually, depending on their wage. These people must be properly compensated," said lawyer Robert Camp, who is heading the poultry lawsuits.
Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson issued a statement Monday denying the firm's claims.
"Contrary to claims by plaintiffs against Tyson and others in the industry, we believe we pay our people for the time they devote to their jobs," he said. "There have been many similar suits filed against Tyson and other companies since the 1990s about this matter."
Mickelson said the only new development in the wage-and-hour cases involves a company request to consolidate the pretrial activity into one federal court, a motion filed April 6.
With annual sales of $26 billion in 2005 and 50 U.S. poultry processing facilities, Tyson employs more than 107,000 employees.
Based on an equation factoring the number of employees, hours worked on an annual basis, back-pay entitlement and costs for plaintiffs, Tyson Foods would be liable for more than $4 billion if the poultry wage-and-hour litigation is successful, Camp said.
al.com
Food processor denies claim it shorted workers
ROY L. WILLIAMSNews staff writer
The Birmingham News
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Cochran Firm, which has a Birmingham office, has filed multiple lawsuits accusing Arkansas-based poultry giant Tyson Foods Inc. and other processors of owing thousands of employees more than $4 billion in back pay, the law firm said Monday.
The suits, representing clients in a multistate area of the Southeast, include 16 filed in Alabama and nine in Georgia. Five of the Alabama lawsuits specifically name Tyson Foods.
Thousands of claims for workers in the poultry-processing industry have been filed since a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision said workers may be given back wages for time required to be on the job that was not fully compensated.
Claims by the Cochran Firm, founded by the late Johnnie Cochran, seek attorneys' fees and damages.
Annual wages for poultry workers based on a 40-hour week average $19,600.
"I estimate that if workers' hours are recorded correctly, workers could earn an additional $6,000 to $8,000 annually, depending on their wage. These people must be properly compensated," said lawyer Robert Camp, who is heading the poultry lawsuits.
Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson issued a statement Monday denying the firm's claims.
"Contrary to claims by plaintiffs against Tyson and others in the industry, we believe we pay our people for the time they devote to their jobs," he said. "There have been many similar suits filed against Tyson and other companies since the 1990s about this matter."
Mickelson said the only new development in the wage-and-hour cases involves a company request to consolidate the pretrial activity into one federal court, a motion filed April 6.
With annual sales of $26 billion in 2005 and 50 U.S. poultry processing facilities, Tyson employs more than 107,000 employees.
Based on an equation factoring the number of employees, hours worked on an annual basis, back-pay entitlement and costs for plaintiffs, Tyson Foods would be liable for more than $4 billion if the poultry wage-and-hour litigation is successful, Camp said.
al.com