The term refers to the time workers spend getting into and out of work clothes. An industry wide practice in the poultry sector is to not pay workers for such time spent preparing themselves to enter the production area. Cases have been filed by workers and regulators against poultry processors over the practice.
"The decision confirms Tyson is paying its team members fairly for all hours they work," the company stated.
Last month George's Processing Inc. agreed to pay a $1.24 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Department of Labor, which sued the company for not paying workers for donning and doffing work clothes and following sanitary procedures at the plant. The money will be used to pay back wages to 5,482 current and former employees of George's Cassville, Mo. poultry- processing plant for uncompensated overtime hours.
The George's lawsuit was among a number filed since 2002 in the department's battle against a common poultry industry practice. The department contends that this "donning and doffing" time is work time that must be compensated. Tyson Foods and others face similar suits brought by the department.
The current case against Tyson Foods was filed in 2000 by attorneys for seven workers from the company's New Holland, Pennsylvania poultry plant. They alleged the company failed to pay them for time taken to put on and take off certain items of clothing before and after their shifts and breaks. About 540 additional current or former workers joined the suit.
After a two week trial in federal court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a jury concluded these activities are not work and sided with the company.
"We're grateful for this ruling because it shows we're paying our people correctly for the time they devote to their jobs," said Ken Kimbro, senior vice president of human resources for Tyson Foods. "Businesses across the country, including ours, are facing similar wage and hour suits because federal labor regulations in this area are vague. We're hopeful this decision will help bring some clarity to this nationwide legal debate."
Tyson's New Holland poultry plant employs about 1,100 workers.
An unanimous decision issued by the Supreme Court in November 2005 against a mining company, upheld the labor department's positions on "donning and doffing".
The department filed a similar suit against Tyson in May 2002. At the same time, Perdue Farms agreed to settle a lawsuit by changing its practices and paying back wages to 25,000 workers.
Similar lawsuits were filed by workers at a Pasco, Wash., slaughter and meat processing plant now owned by IBP Inc., a subsidiary of Tyson Foods and workers at a poultry processing plant in Portland, Maine.
In a court decision about 800 workers at the Washington beef slaughterhouse in the late 1990s were awarded $8.4 million in backpay from Tyson Foods, which inherited the lawsuit when it acquired the Iowa Beef Processors (IBP) slaughterhouse in Pasco in 2001.
The Labor Department stated that it is actively moving ahead to assure that other affected companies also pay their employees for all hours worked and comply with the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Tyson Foods says it is the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork. The company employs about 114,000 workers at about 300 plants and offices in the US and around the world.