Osceola Foods faces class-action lawsuit

By MELISSA BROWNRIGG

January 08, 2010 at 11:15 am CST

A class-action lawsuit was filed Dec. 30 against Osceola Foods in Osceola. The lawsuit claims the company didn’t pay employees for time they spent dressing in a required uniform before and after working their shifts. (Osceola Sentinel)

OSCEOLA — A class-action lawsuit recently filed against Osceola Foods contends the company has failed to properly compensate its employees for overtime pay.

A West Des Moines law firm and previous Osceola Foods employee Kathy Havard filed the suit in Clarke County Dec. 30 on behalf of all employees who claim they were routinely forced to work while off the clock.

According to J. Barton Goplerud of Hudson, Mallaney, Shindler and Anderson law firm, the company didn’t pay employees wages for “gowning and de-gowning” in a uniform, a process required at the Hormel meat processing plant.

Because of this, employees lost an estimated 25 minutes of overtime pay each day.

• More of this story is available in the Jan. 8 edition of the Creston News Advertiser