Meat-processing company Tyson Foods' arguments didn't win against its employees who contended they were underpaid after the Supreme Court upheld its decision. The big company is now subject to pay millions.
According to WSJ, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court has granted the petition of thousands of workers from an Iowa pork processing plant who sought to band and recover the overtime pay they have supposedly earned. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the plaintiffs were allowed to be entitled to use statistics in winning their case. The ruling was 6 - 2 in favor of the plaintiffs.
The workers in the case Tyson Foods v. Bouphakeo have won a grueling amount of roughly $6 million. The money is still being distributed and the Supreme Court has allowed Tyson Foods to come after those workers who are not eligible to do overtime work.
In a statement, the workers described their job and the case, as CNBC wrote. The Tyson Foods workers were asked to perform tasks that were detailed as "grueling and dangerous" in their plantation. After slaughtering hogs, trimming the meat and preparing it for shipment, the plaintiffs are asking for payment due to overtime. However, Tyson Foods did not keep records of this. Thee workers tried to win the case by an expert's observation and statistical inferences on the videos showing how long it took the employees to prepare for cutting the meat.
Fortune reported that it is one of the three cases where the highest court upheld the workers. Of the three cases, the court has already ruled two with the businesses losing both times. In January, the court decided in a 6 - 3 voting against the firm Campbell-Ewald, which violated a federal consumer law by sending unsolicited text messages on behalf of the U.S. Navy.
Tyson Foods' lawyers David Van Bebber said in a statement that they'll proceed to lower courts with regards to the distribution of damages.
