Gomez v. Tyson Foods, Inc.

976 F. Supp. 2d 1169, 2013 WL 5516200, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142586
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Gomez v. Tyson Foods, Inc.. Read the opinion of the Court — 295 F.R.D. 397
District Court, D. Nebraska·Decided October 2, 2013·No. No. 8:08CV21·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOSEPH F. BATAILLON, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on the plaintiffs’ motion for judgment as a matter of law, Filing No. 381; plaintiffs’ renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, and, in the alternative, for a new trial, Filing No. 419; and defendant’s motion for judgment as a matter of law and motion to decertify, Filing No. 417.1 For the reasons stated below, the court finds that the motions for judgment as a matter of law and for new trial should be denied.

[1173]*1173I. FACTS

These motions stem from a five-year dispute between the parties that culminated in a ten-day jury trial in March of 2013. The plaintiffs are all current or former employees of Tyson at its Dakota City, Nebraska, facility. All Tyson production workers at the Dakota City plant wear some combination of personal protective and sanitary equipment, which includes: ear plugs, hard hat, hairnet, beard net (if they have facial hair), boots, mesh glove, mesh sleeves, mesh apron, polar gloves, polar sleeves, arm guard, belly guard, frock, white pants and shirt, safety glasses and scabbard and knives.

Tyson pays its Dakota City, Nebraska, hourly production workers on a “gang time” basis. “Gang time” is the time that the processing lines are moving and during which production workers are physically at the assembly line while the lines are moving and producing product. “Gang time” does not record or include time that production workers spend donning and doffing their protective and sanitary equipment before and after “gang time” and at unpaid meal breaks. In addition to “gang time,” Tyson pays its hourly production workers “extra” minutes per day to compensate them for donning and doffing activities. The payment of “extra” minutes beyond the “gang time” for donning and doffing activities is referred to as “K-code” time.

The parties have long disputed whether or not this K-code time adequately compensates employees for the time they spend donning and doffing. In January 2007, the plaintiffs filed suit against Tyson, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and the Nebraska Wage Payment and Collection Act, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 48-1228 et seq. A Fed.R.Civ.P. 23 class was certified in this matter, and the case proceeded as a class action. Filing No. 74, Findings and Recommendation; Filing No. 76, Memorandum and Order (“Mem. & Order”).2

Before trial in this case, the court granted the plaintiffs’ summary judgment on liability. Filing No. 224, Mem. & Order, at 38-40. Specifically, the court found as a matter of law that the plaintiffs are entitled to payment for actual time. Id. at 34-36. The court also found that the donning and doffing of both unique (i.e., protective gear such as mesh sleeves, etc.) and standard or non-unique items (i.e., sanitary items such as frocks, “whites,” hairnets, etc.) is integral and indispensable to the plaintiffs’ work, inures to the benefit of Tyson, and begins the continuous workday. Id. The court denied Tyson’s motion for a ruling that the items at issue are clothes that are excluded from compensability under § 203(o) of the FLSA, and rejected its positions that the plaintiffs’ claims are de minimis and the plaintiffs’ mealtime claims subject to dismissal under the Eighth Circuit’s “predominant benefit” test. Id. at 35-39. The court also rejected Tyson’s arguments that the plaintiffs’ state law claims are preempted3 or not supported by any previous agreement.4 Id. at 40.

[1174]*1174The court framed the issues for trial as follows:

There remain factual disputes regarding the time it take the employees to don and doff the clothing and equipment and to walk to the line. This action will proceed to trial only on the issue of damages. The only remaining issue for the jury to decide is the amount of time the employees spend performing these compensable activities. The court will determine as a matter of law the amount of any offset for minutes of time already paid.

See id. at 38. In response to Tyson’s emergency motion for clarification, the court stated:

In its order on the motions for summary judgment, the court found against Tyson as a matter of law on the liability issue. Filing No. 224, Memorandum and Order at 32-35. The finding was premised in part on the historical record of Tyson’s litigation of the issue in the Alvarez case, which involved a Union plant. See id. at 10-14. Union negotiations and Tyson’s “pay practices” and/or rationale for its pay practices are irrelevant as defenses to liability. The liability issue has been resolved by the court. As hard as it is for Tyson to accept that fact, it is the law of the case.
Tyson’s history of litigation as reflected in the case law and public record shows that there is no dispute that the four minutes paid to Tyson employees at its unionized plants did not, and does not, include, at the least, walking time. Alvarez v. IBP, Inc., 2001 WL 34897841, *2, n. 3, *6 [ (E.D.Wash.2001) ] (characterizing minutes as “clothes changing”). It is undisputed that Tyson never increased the amount of elothes-changing time at the Dakota City plant above four minutes. The United States Supreme Court found in Alvarez that the employees are entitled to compensation for walking time.

See Filing No. 318, Mem. & Order at 3.5

The court also ruled prior to trial that the amount of backpay due each class [1175]*1175member was not a disputed issue of fact to be decided by the jury because it would be a matter of simple arithmetic to determine damages once the jury determined the number of minutes the work at issue takes to perform. Filing No. 306, Mem. & Order at 1-2; Filing No. 307, Mem. & Order at 3. Because the court found the only issue for determination was the time it took to perform the compensable activities, neither side presented evidence of damage calculations at trial.6 Instead, the parties were ordered to submit their respective backpay calculations after trial. See Filing No. 306, Mem & Order at 1-2. Both Tyson and the plaintiffs have submitted respective proposed calculations. See Filing No. 416, plaintiffs’ calculations; Filing No. 424, defendant’s submission; Filing No. 425, Index of Evid.

At the beginning of trial, the court provided the jury with initial instructions, with the admonition that the instructions could change before the end of trial. See Filing No. 399, Initial Jury Instructions. The jury was preliminarily instructed that:

Employees at Tyson Foods’ Dakota City facility put on, take off, and clean or sanitize protective equipment and sanitary gear before and after they process meat on their shifts. These activities are often referred to as “donning” and “doffing” related activities.

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Gomez v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 976 F. Supp. 2d 1169, 2013 WL 5516200, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142586 (D. Neb. 2013).

976 F. Supp. 2d 1169 (Gomez v. Tyson Foods, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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