Tyson to Pay Out $1.5M in Discrimination Settlement

The consent decrees, filed with the Department of Labor’s (DoL) Office of Administrative Law Judges, were the result of separate compliance evaluations of six facilities in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The periods under scrutiny go as far back as 2002, depending on the facility, according to a press release.

The agency office found that the Arkansas-based company discriminated against 1,354 rejected female applicants for entry-level laborer positions at three chicken processing plants in Arkansas, against 998 rejected minority applicants for entry-level laborer positions at chicken processing plants in Oklahoma; and against 225 rejected minority applicants for long-haul driver positions at its long-haul terminal in Arkansas.

The division of the settlement will be as follows:

Decree 1 – $695,000 in back pay and interest to rejected female applicants for laborer jobs and employment for 267 laborer positions to those female class members.

Decree 2 – $340,000 in back pay and interest to rejected minority applicants for entry-level laborer jobs and employment for 105 of those minority class members into laborer positions.

Decree 3 – $465,000 in back pay and interest to minority applicants for long-haul driver positions and employment for 104 minority class members into long haul driver positions. Also, the company will provide retroactive seniority to all the female and minority class members hired.

Tyson has also agreed to immediately correct all discriminatory practices and to undertake extensive self-monitoring measures for two years to ensure that all hiring practices fully comply with the law, according to the DoL news release.