A lawsuit has been filed and is seeking class action status against the company for allegedly failing to pay workers for time spent putting on and taking off required protective gear. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Madison on behalf of 1,500 current and former production and maintenance workers. The case sites a US Supreme Court ruling in late 2005 that concluded employers have to pay employees for the time they spend "doffing and donning" â" taking off and putting on special clothing or other items supplied by the company.
Employees are not allowed to punch their timecards until after they have put on special clothing and walked to their work stations; at the end of the day, they punch out before they can leave to change clothes again. Employees who have worked at the Kraft/Oscar Mayer plant during the past three years could be affected by the case.
