Sophia Serrao
Thu, 04/13/2023
Employees of Smithfield Fresh Meats Corporation filed suit against their employer for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Illinois Minimum Wage Law. The case, Franklin v. Smithfield Fresh Meats Corp, was filed on April 4, 2023, in the US District Court for the Central District of Illinois. The complaint alleges that employees perform unpaid work for at least 10-15 minutes per day that is necessary to their jobs for which they are not compensated. The employees must don and doff sanitary clothing and protective equipment as per FDA Good Manufacturing Practices regulations. The complaint seeks to establish an “opt-in” collective action for all current and former food manufacturing, packaging, or handling employees of Smithfield who worked over 40 hours per workweek and were required to don and doff sanitary clothing and protective equipment. The case seeks to look back 3 years from date of filing, alleging that Smithfield acted willfully or intentionally in not compensating the employees correctly. The case seeks similar allegations under the state of Illinois. The size of the potential class is unclear.
MSE has a successful history of litigating similar overtime cases for employees who are not being compensated for all their work time. If you are working before or after shift and not being compensated for that time, please contact us.
