workers

March 30, 2021 In News

Comment from Worker and Legal Team: Judge Grants OSHA Motion to Dismiss in Maid-Rite Worker Suit

Link to ruling: Maid-Rite-Dkt-59-Memorandum-Granting-Motion-to-Dismiss-Motion-to-Strike.pdf (publicjustice.net) Statement from Jane Doe II, a plaintiff in the lawsuit: “It is bad enough to be treated as inhuman by your employer during a pandemic – to work along a crowded processing line at breakneck speed, to have no room to take...

March 21, 2021 In News

The Kansas City Star: Pandemic and Trump-era neglect overwhelm federal agency tasked with worker safety

When Smithfield was sued over conditions at their plant, the company argued the job of policing workplace safety complaints belonged to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, rather than the court system....

January 19, 2021 In News

Bloomberg Law: Meatpackers Press for Covid-19 Vaccine to Protect Line Workers

Meatpacking workers and their employers are pushing to the front of the line for coronavirus vaccinations as state governments roll out their distribution plans to combat the pandemic....

January 4, 2021 In News

Bloomberg Law: ‘No Evidence’ of Virus Litigation Wave as Businesses Seek Shield

The volume of lawsuits filed since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic that allege workplace safety violations—including sickness and death from lack of protective equipment, social distancing, and limiting exposure—has been far less than the onslaught predicted by pro-business groups and some politicians....

December 3, 2020 In News

Law360: OSHA Won’t Fine Meatpacker Accused Of COVID-19 Violations

The U.S. Department of Labor's workplace safety arm will not cite a meat processing company investigated for alleged COVID-19 violations, despite a lawsuit by workers urging a Pennsylvania federal court to force the agency to make the company better protect against the disease....

November 30, 2020 In Cases

Maid-Rite (Justice at Work v. Sec. of Labor)

FarmSTAND (formerly the Food Project at Public Justice), Public Justice, Towards Justice, Nichols Kaster, and Justice at Work filed a lawsuit in the Middle District of Pennsylvania using a never-before-tested mechanism in the Occupational Safety and Health Act, seeking to compel OSHA to enforce workplace...

August 10, 2020 In News

Joint Statement on Title VI Dismissal

The complainants (Food Chain Workers Alliance, the Rural Community Workers Alliance, the HEAL Food Alliance, Forward Latino, American Friends Service Committee – Iowa, and the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils) are represented by Public Justice, Nichols Kaster PLLP, and Towards Justice, and issued a joint...

July 8, 2020 In News, Press Release

Meat Workers and Allies File Complaint Challenging Meat Processing Corporation Actions, Alleging Racial Discrimination in Disastrous COVID-19 Response

A nationwide coalition filed an administrative civil rights complaint with the USDA alleging that Tyson Foods and JBS have engaged in racial discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act through their workplace policies during the COVID-19 pandemic....

July 8, 2020 In Cases

Food Chain Workers Alliance v. Tyson Foods Title VI Complaint

A nationwide coalition of organizations that advocate for meat processing workers and allied groups filed an administrative civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging that in addition to being disastrous for the wellbeing of workers and for public health, two major meat...

April 24, 2020 In News

Bloomberg Law: Smithfield Workers Sue Over Covid-19 Exposure in Meat Plant

Smithfield Foods Inc. is being sued for allegedly failing to protect workers from coronavirus at its meat-processing plant in Milan, Mo., after at least eight workers have had to stay home after showing Covid-19 symptoms....