CAPE GIRARDEAU — A former employee of Tyson Foods has sued the company in a class action lawsuit alleging it failed to properly pay employees their proper wages.
Richard McBride, a former production supervisor at a meat processing plant in Missouri operated by the defendant, claims Tyson violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and other Missouri state laws, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern Division.
McBride claims he performed primarily non-exempt tasks similar to those of hourly employees, such as working on the production line and packing meat and that he neither managed any departments nor had the authority to hire or fire employees, and his job did not involve significant discretion or independent judgment.
"Despite his job title, Plaintiff spent the vast majority of his time performing non-exempt job duties, such as performing the same or similar type of work as the hourly-paid employees, working on the production line, packing meat," the complaint states.
As such, McBride was essentially a blue-collar worker, eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA, according to the suit.
McBride claims, however, that the defendant classified him as an exempt employee and paid him a salary, thereby denying him the overtime premium pay required by law for hours worked beyond 40 in a week.
The plaintiff frequently worked more than 40 hours per week without receiving proper overtime compensation, the complaint states.
This wrongful misclassification and the resultant failure to pay overtime wages violated the FLSA, according to the suit.
McBride claims that many other employees in similar supervisory roles were subjected to the same misclassification and denial of overtime pay due to the defendant's wage payment policies.
"At all relevant times, Defendant employed Plaintiff and each Putative Class Member with Missouri state law claims as an 'employee' within the meaning of the wage laws of the Missouri Revised Statutes," the complaint states. " RSMo § 290.505 requires employers like Defendant to pay employees at 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of forty (40) hours in any one week. Plaintiff and each member of the Putative Class are entitled to overtime pay under the wage laws of the Missouri Revised Statutes."
McBride claims the defendant had a policy by which production supervisors and each member of the putative class were not paid overtime compensation, according to the suit.
The plaintiff and the class seek to represent a collective action under the FLSA for all similarly situated production supervisors who were misclassified as exempt and denied overtime pay.
McBride claims that the defendant's practices were not unique to his case but part of a widespread policy affecting numerous employees.
McBride is seeking certification of the class action and an award of unpaid overtime wages, back pay, liquidated damages and restitution. He is represented by Forester Haynie of Colby Qualls in Dallas, Texas.
Attorneys declined to comment on the case outside of the complaint.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern Division case number: 4:24-cv-00655