Indiana-based pork producer agrees to settlement in wage-related lawsuit

Delphi-based Indiana Packers Corp. is among 19 companies that have agreed to settlements totaling $202.7 million in a lawsuit alleging that the companies conspired to keep wages low for their meat processing plant workers.

But the litigation moves forward against another four defendants that have not agreed to settle, including Fort Wayne-based consulting firm Agri Stats Inc.

The settlement agreements were announced this week by the plaintiffs’ attorneys: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, and Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, both based in Washington, D.C.

In its settlement agreement, Indiana Packers agreed to pay $1.1 million but denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Settlement money will go to eligible individuals who worked at the company between Jan. 1, 2000, and Feb. 27, 2024. Some of the money will also cover attorney fees and other case expenses.

IBJ left phone messages for both Indiana Packers and Agri Stats, and phone and email messages for the companies’ legal counsel, but those messages were not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

The plaintiffs in the case, one who worked at a Smithfield pork-processing plant in Iowa during the period covered in the complaint and one who worked at a National Beef processing plant in Georgia during that time, filed their complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

In their complaint, which was filed in 2022, the plaintiffs allege that “since at least 2000, defendants have conspired and combined to fix and depress the compensation paid to employees at red meat processing plants.”

The defendants did this, the complaint alleges, by providing their employee compensation data for reports that were then shared with the other defendants. Executives who worked for the defendant companies also shared wage information among themselves via email and phone communications, and in person at “secret annual compensation meetings,” the lawsuit alleges.

According to the complaint, the defendants and their related entities operate about 140 red meat processing plants around the U.S., collectively producing more than 80% of the red meat sold to U.S. consumers.

Indiana Packers produces a variety of pork products, such as bacon, fresh pork and ham, for retail and food service customers. The company distributes its products under the Indiana Kitchen brand and a variety of private-label brands.