Law360: Poultry Workers Get Final OK On $398M Wage-Fixing Deals

Jun 5, 2025

By Jared Foretek

June 5, 2025

A Maryland federal judge granted final approval Thursday to settlements worth nearly $400 million for poultry processing workers who claimed that the nation’s biggest chicken producers conspired to suppress their wages.

In an order, U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher of the District of Maryland said there were no objections to the various settlement agreements, though more than 3,300 exclusion requests had been submitted by class members.

“The settlement agreements are fair, reasonable and adequate settlements for the settlement classes within the meaning of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23 and in accordance with the factors identified by the Fourth Circuit,” Judge Gallagher wrote.

Judge Gallagher also gave final sign-off to over $132.6 million in attorney fees for the three lead class counsel firms in the case: Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLCHagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC That figure represents 33.3% of the total $398 million settlement fund.

“Without the initiative, skill, experience and hard work of plaintiffs’ counsel, this case would never have been filed, let alone succeed,” the workers wrote in their attorney fees request last month. “No government enforcer was investigating these claims. No other firms were. The conspiracy was carefully hidden from the workers. Only plaintiffs’ counsel’s dogged nine-month investigation revealed the poultry industry’s conspiracy to suppress compensation.”

The slew of settlements closes the book on a class action in which poultry giants like Tyson Foods, Perdue, Cargill, Butterball and others will pay to avoid trial. The companies will pay various amounts, with Tyson, at $115.5 million, and Perdueat $60.65 million, leading the payouts. Tyson and Perdue did not immediately respond to Law360’s request for comment Thursday.

Other companies the workers reached the deals with are Allen Harim Foods LLCAmick Farms LLCFieldale Farms Corp., Foster Poultry Farms, Jennie-O Turkey Store Inc., Koch Foods Inc., O.K. Foods Inc. and Keystone Foods LLC.

In moving for approval, the poultry workers called the total settlement amount the second-biggest recovery in a labor antitrust class action.

Previously, other companies reached deals with the plaintiffs, including George’s Inc., Sanderson Farms Inc. and Wayne Farms LLC. Data consulting firm Webber Meng Sahl & Co. and its president also settled, in July 2022. Mountaire Farms, a North Carolina chicken processor, settled in March.

The Maryland suit was first brought in 2019, with the number of defendants ultimately reaching 26. Workers claimed that the companies engaged in illegal wage-fixing for over a decade. The settlement fund will be distributed as pro rata shares based on relative earnings “by each member of the settlement classes during the relevant class periods,” Judge Gallagher said.

“This court finds that this plan of allocation fairly compensates members of the settlement classes based on their relative earnings and the total value of the settlement fund,” the judge said Thursday. “The plan of allocation further is designed to reduce administrative costs and, when combined with the multiple phases of … solicitations to reduce penalties, fairly, reasonably and adequately maximizes the funds available to members of the settlement classes.”

According to the workers, senior executives from the companies held regular “off the books” meetings where they agreed upon wage levels across their plants and hatcheries. The plaintiffs also claimed that the companies used the agricultural data company Agri Stats — which has been at the center of a number of price- and wage-fixing suits in the industry — to pool and share pay data.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to Law360’s requests for comment Thursday.

The workers are represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP and Berger Montague.