Pilgrim's Pride sued over wages

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 9, 2007 | by Associated Press

DALLAS -- The Labor Department has sued Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the nation's largest poultry producer, to collect $3 million in back wages that federal officials said Wednesday are owed to more than 500 current and former workers.

Labor Department officials said Pilgrim's Pride failed to pay overtime wages for the time workers spent putting on and taking off protective clothing. They also said Pilgrim's Pride hadn't kept accurate overtime records since August 2005.

The company has a distribution center in Salt Lake City.

The Labor Department said the lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Dallas. It charged that Pilgrim's Pride violated a federal law requiring that workers get paid 150 percent of their regular wages for work beyond 40 hours a week.

A spokesman for Pilgrim's Pride, Ray Atkinson, said the company's pay practices have been upheld by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Atkinson said the Labor Department audited its Dallas facility last year and didn't demand back pay for any employees. He said the agency has alleged overtime-law violations at other poultry companies.

Pilgrim's Pride, based in the East Texas city of Pittsburg, operates 34 chicken processing plants around the country and sells chicken and turkey under its own name and other brands including Pierce and Country Pride. The company is controlled by the family of 79-year-old former chairman and chief executive Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim.

The company acquired rival Gold Kist early this year, creating a combined company with sales last year of nearly $7.4 billion, surpassing Tyson Foods Inc. as the nation's biggest poultry producer.

On Tuesday, Pilgrim's Pride reported that higher prices helped it post a larger profit than analysts expected in the quarter ended June 30. The company earned $62.6 million, or 94 cents per share, easily beating the Wall Street consensus forecast of 63 cents per share.

Shares of Pilgrim's Pride rose $1.22, or 3.5 percent, to $36.06 Wednesday.