Livestock Buyers Settle Case Against Swift & Co. For Failure to Pay Overtime

The attorneys at Lear Werts LLP represented a class of livestock buyers in a collective action lawsuit against Swift & Company ("Swift") claiming unpaid overtime wages.

Summary of Lawsuit

The lawsuit alleged that Swift violated federal wage and hour laws by failing to pay its employees overtime premium pay when those employees work more than 40 hours in a week. Swift paid livestock buyers on a quasi-salary basis and treated them as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), even though the nature of the duties performed by livestock buyers does not meet the requirements for any of the exemptions under that law. Plaintiffs alleged that these food processors were instructed that they were not entitled to overtime compensation, but the employees were commonly unable to complete their required job duties without working in excess of forty hours per week. This case settled on behalf of all pork buyers affected by Swiftâ??s challenged policy.

Food processing workers are routinely denied wages

This case has concluded and you can no longer join in the case. If you have worked in the food processing industry, however and you would like to obtain additional information about your wage and hour rights, please go to our Contact Page to describe your situation in a contact request form. The completed form will be sent via email directly to the lawyers at Lear Werts LLP and one of the attorneys will contact you to schedule a free consultation about joining this lawsuit.