Tyson Foods Inc. on Wednesday blasted a request by a class of Tyson workers that an Iowa federal judge determine whether the time they spent donning and doffing protective gear constitutes "work" and merits compensation under federal employment law.  In a motion, the plaintiffs argue that the judge should decide issues of compensibility before the case goes to trial, saying circuit courts agree that district courts, and not juries, should determine whether certain duties qualify as work under the Fair Labor Standards Act or principal activity under the Portal Act.  "Clearly demarcating the issues for the court to decide versus the subsidiary factual issues for the jury to decide is critical not just to the scope of the evidence at trial, but also to prevent the jurors from deciding for themselves what the law is or should be," the motion said.

In a reply filed Wednesday, Tyson ripped the plaintiffs for trying to rehash a dead issue.  "These issues have already been addressed repeatedly by the parties in prior filings," the response said. "This court has already ruled that the issue of compensibility must be decided by a jury."  In August, Tyson failed to decertify the class of plaintiffs bringing the state and federal employment claims. The company had claimed that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, which stiffened class certification standards, required the court to nix a previously certified class of 3,200 workers at Tyson’s Storm Lake, Iowa, meat processing facility.  Though the plaintiffs are pursuing federal claims under the FLSA, Tyson's decertification motion targeted only the state law class. (click on link to read full story)