By Bibeka Shrestha

Law360, New York (March 17, 2011) --

A jury in Kansas awarded more than $500,000 to a class of Tyson Foods Inc. meatpacking workers Wednesday after finding the company had violated the Fair Labor

Standards Act by refusing to pay employees for time spent donning and doffing protective gear. After hearing evidence for seven days, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas found that Tyson Foods and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. had violated both the FLSA and the Kansas Wage Payment Act.

The jury concluded that FLSA violation were willful despite Tyson's protestations that any errors it made under the federal labor law were made in good faith. The finding allows the plaintiffs to receive the total value of unpaid wages as liquidated damages.

"After almost five years of litigation, this is a gratifying win," the plaintiffs' lead trial lawyer George Hanson said in a statement Wednesday. "Although we certainly hoped for a higher award, the bottom line is a jury found that Tyson violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and did so willfully."

The jury awarded the class more than $166,000 for Tyson's FLSA violations and more than $336,000 for state law violations, but found the meat processor did not owe payment for rest breaks taken by the plaintiffs. The court will next determine liquidated damages under the FLSA as well as an award of plaintiffs' attorneys' fees and costs, Hanson said.

"While we're disappointed by the overall verdict, we appreciate the hard work and diligence of the jurors," Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said Thursday. "We will now evaluate the implications of the verdict and determine what our next steps will be."

Mickelson pointed out that though the plaintiffs had sought more than $6 million in compensation accrued from May 2003 to the end of 2010, they would likely receive less than 10 percent of their original demand.

In the long-running suit, the meat processing workers accused Tyson of not paying them for time spent donning and doffing protective gear, walking to and from work posts and taking brief rest breaks.

"Not once in five years did Tyson even consider resolving this dispute for any amount," Hanson said. "Hopefully, the message from the jury may cause Tyson to reconsider its litigation strategy going forward."

The collective action, launched in 2006, centered on Tyson beef-processing plants in Holcomb and Emporia, Kan. The Holcomb plant employs about 2,500 hourly production workers, while the Emporia plant employed about 2,000 hourly production workers until Tyson stopped slaughter operations at the plant in February 2008. That plant now employs about 800 people.

Judge John W. Lungstrum granted conditional collective action certification in the case in February 2009.

On Jan. 31, the judge denied summary judgment motions from both sides, finding the case contained enough disputable issues of fact to make summary judgment inappropriate.

However, Judge Lungstrum tossed one of the plaintiffs' motions that sought to recover under Kansas state law based on quantum meruit, a concept similar to unjust enrichment. The judge said such a ruling would be unnecessarily duplicative of state law claims under the KWPA.

The plaintiffs are represented by Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP, Outten & Golden LLP and Garcia & Antosh LLP.

Tyson is represented by Bryan Cave LLP and Hunton & Williams LLP.

The case is Garcia et al. v. Tyson Foods Inc. et al., case number 2:06-cv-02198, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

--Additional reporting by Joseph Marks and Ben James. Editing by Andrew Park.