Jennie-O Turkey Store will pay $3.5 million as part of a $180 million settlement of a lawsuit claiming it and nine other big poultry companies unlawfully conspired to suppress wages and fix competition for production and maintenance employees.
The settlement means people who worked between Jan. 1, 2000, and July 20, 2021, for the companies, which also include Tyson and Butterball, may be eligible for back pay.
Between this and earlier settlements, the poultry workers are expected to recoup about $398 million, according to reporting from Law360, which first reported the settlement.
“It is a great privilege to represent these workers and get money back for folks that they should have been paid, especially when they’re in really, really difficult jobs,” Brent Johnson, the attorney representing the poultry workers, said in a statement.
Hormel, which owns Willmar-based Jennie-O, did not respond to a request for comment.
Judge Stephanie Gallagher, who serves the U.S. District Court in Maryland, approved the motion for settlement on Feb. 11.
The settlement includes workers from all the companies’ operations from processing plants to hatcheries and feeding mills, according to the court order. It excludes managers, human resources employees, office staff, security guards and salespeople.
Workers initially filed the suit in 2019, claiming leaders from the 10 companies met for “off the books” meetings in the Hilton Sandestin Resort Hotel & Spa in Destin, Fla., to discuss poultry industry compensation. The meetings were not recorded.
