Wages

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WI Supreme Court

Case Name: United Food v. Hormel Foods Corporation

Case No: 2014AP1880

Focus:  Wages

Hormel required to compensate employees for time spent taking off and putting on uniforms and equipment for work.

Wisconsin Admin. Code § DWD 272.12 requires Hormel to compensate its employees for the 5.7 minutes per day spent donning and doffing the clothing and equipment at the beginning and end of the day. Relying on the Tyson Foods case, Weissman v. Tyson Prepared Foods, Inc., 2013 WI App 109, 350 Wis. 2d 380, 838 N.W.2d 502, as did the circuit court, we conclude, as did the circuit court, that the employees’ donning and doffing clothing and equipment at the beginning and end of the day brought Hormel into compliance with federal food and safety regulations and was integral and indispensable to sanitation and safety in the employees’ principal work activities, namely food production

Affirmed

ROGGENSACK, C.J., PROSSER, J., concur and dissent. (Opinion Filed)

Gableman, Ziegler, J.J., dissent. (Opinion Filed)

R.G. Bradley, J., did not participate.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.