Obtain the data you need to make the most informed decisions by accessing our extensive portfolio of information, analytics, and expertise. Sign in to the product or service center of your choice.
Article: Smithfield served with coronavirus lawsuit
30 April 2020
This is an article taken from our IEG Policy platform dated
270420.
Smithfield Foods has been hit with a lawsuit alleging it is
failing to protect workers at a pork processing plant in Missouri
from the risks of COVID-19.
Filed by the Rural Community Workers Alliance and a plant worker
identified as Jane Doe, the lawsuit says Smithfield ignored the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) "abundantly
clear guidance" to safeguard workers and continues to operate the
Milan, Missouri plant in a "manner that contributes to the spread
of the disease."
The suit alleges Smithfield failed to provide employees with
adequate personal protective equipment, forced them to work
shoulder to shoulder, refused to provide them with adequate break
opportunities or time to wash their hands, discouraged them from
taking sick leave, and failed to implement a plan for testing and
contact-testing.
The 22-page complaint criticizes Smithfield for not taking
responsibility for the spread of COVID-19 at several of its
facilities, notably a South Dakota plant that has emerged as a
coronavirus hot spot. More than 780 workers at the now-shuttered
Sioux Falls plant have tested positive for the virus and two
workers have died. Smithfield is not the only meat processor
struggling with the spread of COVID-19 - Tyson and JBS have also
been forced to close plants and all told more than a dozen
facilities have been shuttered because of the pandemic.
Labor unions, worker advocates and Democrats in Congress have
pressured food companies and USDA to take additional steps to
protect workers - last week the United Food and Commercial Workers
International Union said more than 5,000 meatpacking and food
processing workers have been sickened or exposed to COVID-19.
The complaint echoes those concerns that the industry has not
taken its role to protect its workers seriously and has put profits
ahead of public health.
"Smithfield is so unwilling to acknowledge its responsibilities
to its workers and the communities where it operates that it
recently blamed 'certain cultures' for the spread of the disease in
its South Dakota plant, rather than its failure to provide personal
protective equipment, failure to allow for hand washing and social
distancing, and the policies its maintains in plants around the
country to incentivize sick workers to continue coming to work,"
according to the lawsuit.
Sick workers have "gone on to infect family members and
community members and their illnesses have strained our healthcare
infrastructure," the complaint says. "Many workers and their family
members have died as a consequence of infections that have spread
at workplaces in our nation's food supply chain. Workers employed
by Smithfield are all too familiar with this phenomenon."
Filed in the US District Court for the Western District of
Missouri, the lawsuit says the Jane Doe plaintiff is participating
in the action "under a pseudonym because her years of experience
working for Smithfield suggest to her that Smithfield is likely to
retaliate against her speaking out against the company." Doe works
on the "cut floor" side-by-side with several other workers to cut
and process pig meat for up to 11 hours a day, according to the
complaint, and she has become "more fearful and concerned than ever
by the workplace conditions" at the plant.
At least eight workers at the plant have had to stay home after
displaying COVID-19 symptoms, according to Doe, who says she is
"scared of the potential consequences" from filing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages, but instead seeks an
injunction to force Smithfield "at a bare minimum" to comply with
CDC guidance, the orders of state public health officials, and
"additional protective measures that public and occupational health
experts deem necessary based on the particular structure and
operation of the Milan plant."
Smithfield said the claims are unfounded and the company will be
"aggressively defending" itself in court.
Language Barriers
The lawsuit came in the wake of a report from the CDC outlining
recommendations for when Smithfield can reopen its Sioux Falls pork
processing plant. A CDC team toured the plant on April 16 and 17
and released its report on April 23 along with South Dakota state
officials.
The report noted that Smithfield had already taken some
mitigation measures, including the installation of plexiglass
barriers in locations where social distancing was not possible, but
CDC investigators called for a more uniform effort across the
plant. It said Smithfield is in the process of implementing other
recommended measures, such as providing face masks and shields,
employee temperature screening, and wellness checks. The CDC also
called for an array of additional actions, including staggering
shifts, increased physical spacing, and more flexibility in break
times, and highlighted the need for much better communication
between the company and its workers.
Poor communication contributed to the outbreak at the plant, the
CDC concluded, explaining that workers at the plant speak some 40
different languages but when an employee was found to have a fever
or symptoms consistent with COVID-19, they were given information
in English and told to go home. CDC also struggled to assess
Smithfield's response because of the language barrier and was
unable to identify "important demographic information" about the
workforce at the plant.
Smithfield said it will review the CDC recommendations - which
are not binding - and work with state officials before reopening
the plant.