Perdue Farms Wage & Hour Litigation
Introduction
On December 16, 1999, seven current and former chicken processing employees of Perdue Farms, Inc. filed a wage and hour class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Perdue is one of the largest chicken processors in the United States, with between 14,000 and 16,000 poultry processing employees currently employed in 18 plants located in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Plaintiffs' Allegations
In the lawsuit, Plaintiffs alleged that Perdue required its hourly poultry processing employees to put on, take off, and clean required protective and sanitary equipment without compensation or retirement benefit contributions in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and various state wage and hour laws.
This action has been brought to ensure that poultry workers in Perdue’s chicken processing plants receive all of the compensation and pension benefits to which they are entitled for all of the work they have performed.
Class Certification
On March 20, 2001, the Court orally certified plaintiffs' claims for class action treatment. The Court issued its written ruling on August 16, 2001.
Settlement Reached and Approved
In August 2002, the parties reached a settlement of the case, which was approved by the U.S. District Court on October 17, 2002. Under the settlement, Perdue paid $10 million for wages lost by its chicken processing employees and attorneys' fees and costs. This settlement is in addition to the $10 million settlement between the Department of Labor and Perdue announced on May 9, 2002. Payment by Perdue in the two settlements together was approximately $20 million. Perdue has also changed its policy, and is now paying employees for all time worked, including donning and doffing time. In addition, Perdue will give pension plan credit for the work performed.
About Lieff Cabraser
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is a 50-plus attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. Our firm is committed to protecting the rights of employees nationwide to equitable treatment and fair wages. Lieff Cabraser employment attorneys have represented thousands of employees seeking to vindicate their rights in cases involving gender and race discrimination, overtime pay and wage and hour violations, and the mishandling of funds in pension and 401k plans.
We served as counsel in a class action suit against Abercrombie & Fitch, which led to a novel, precedent-setting settlement in 2005. The settlement required the retail clothing giant to pay $40 million to Latino, African-American, Asian-American and female applicants and employees who charged the company with discrimination. In addition, Abercrombie was required to promote diversity among its workforce and to prevent discrimination based on race or gender.
We served as class counsel for approximately 25,000 female employees of,
and applicants for employment with, Home Depot. In 1998, the Court approved
a settlement of the case in which Home Depot agreed to modify its hiring,
promotion and compensation practices, and paid $87.5 million, one of the highest
amounts ever paid in a gender discrimination case.
Lieff Cabraser has obtained lost wages and benefits for employees in overtime pay lawsuits, including the successful representation of employees of Denny's, Carrow's, the advertising firm TMP Worldwide, the California State Automobile Association, as well as several corporations in the computer industry including IBM and Computer Sciences Corporation.
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