Pilgrim's Pride Corp. has agreed to a $1M settlement of a suit brought by workers at its Dallas, Texas, processing plant seeking pay for the time they spent putting on and taking off protective gear for their work. Pilgrim’s Pride will also modify its time collection practices so that workers stay punched in for the time they spend donning and doffing protective gear at all of its U.S. processing plants, according to a company press release.
The U.S. Department of Labor will distribute the settlement as overtime compensation to about 798 plant employees involved in the suit, according to Business Week. “Both Pilgrim's Pride and the Department of Labor acknowledge that the agreement does not constitute any admission that the company violated any provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act,” Pilgrim’s Pride said in a statement.
The company added that the time collection practices over which the suit was filed “have been standard in the industry for decades."
