Koch Food of Mississippi LLC agreed to a $3.75 million settlement earlier this week, ending a discrimination lawsuit that was filed by “11 workers at the Morton plant and another filed on behalf of the workers by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.” The settlement agreement was filed in federal court in Jackson on Tuesday with U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan signing off on the three-year consent decree outlining the settlement terms. But what happened? Why was the lawsuit filed against the company in the first place?
Koch Food of Mississippi LLC agreed to a $3.75 million settlement earlier this week, ending a discrimination lawsuit that was filed by “11 workers at the Morton plant and another filed on behalf of the workers by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.” The settlement agreement was filed in federal court in Jackson on Tuesday with U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan signing off on the three-year consent decree outlining the settlement terms. But what happened? Why was the lawsuit filed against the company in the first place?
For starters, the 11 workers and the EEOC alleged in the lawsuit that Koch Food of Mississippi LLC “subjected Hispanic employees and female employees to a hostile work environment and disparate treatment based on their race/national origin and sex, and then retaliated against those who complained.”
Additionally, many of the workers claimed that “supervisors touched and/or made sexually suggestive comments to female Hispanic employees, hit Hispanic employees and charged many of them money for normal everyday activities at work, such as using bathrooms, taking leave or requesting job transfers.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, a group of the Hispanic workers claimed it was “subject to retaliation in the form of discharge and other adverse actions after complaining.”
The EEOC decided to get involved by filing its own lawsuit against the company on June 29, 2011, after investigating the complaints of the 11 workers. At the end of the day, both lawsuits alleged “sexual harassment, retaliation, and national origin and race discrimination” against the poultry company.
Throughout the litigation process, the workers were represented by Rob McDuff, a Jackson attorney, along with Southern Migrant Legal Services of Tennessee (SMLS). When commenting on the settlement agreement, Caitlin Berberich, an attorney with SMLS, said:
“Our clients were very brave in making the choice to speak out. We are pleased that after eight years of litigation, our clients and Koch Foods were able to resolve this matter, including implementation of practices that will hopefully prevent the types of abuses alleged in this case from happening in the future. This was important to our clients from the beginning.”
Prior to the settlement announcement, Koch Foods said it has “long maintained that the allegations of mistreatment were contrived and fabricated as part of a coordinated effort to obtain work authorizations through U-visas.” It added that “although it has sought to hire only authorized workers, the company was in the process of obtaining discovery on the U-visa information on the plaintiffs when the case was settled.”
In response to the settlement, Bobby Elrod, the company’s corporate director of Human Resources said:
“We are pleased the EEOC and the plaintiffs have cooperated to resolve this litigation. Koch Foods is committed to continuing to provide a work environment where each person is treated with dignity as we implement the consent decree in this matter.”
As part of the settlement agreement, Koch Foods will not only provide financial compensation but will also “take specific actions to prevent future discrimination, including providing anti-discrimination training to employees.” The company also must create a “24-hour hotline for reporting discrimination complaints in English and Spanish and must post anti-discrimination policies and notices in its workplace in English and Spanish,” according to the agreement.
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Mississippi poultry supplier to pay $3.75M to settle discrimination lawsuits
Poultry Firm to Pay $3.75M to Settle Discrimination Lawsuits
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