Meatpacker Sued for Overtime

The government today accused the nation’s second-largest meatpacker, IBP Inc., of cheating workers out of millions of dollars in overtime pay at 10 of its packinghouses in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Idaho.

In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., the Labor Department said IBP “repeatedly and willfully” violated federal laws requiring employers to pay hourly workers 1 1/2 times the normal wage for work beyond 40 hours a week. Attorneys for the United Food and Commercial Workers calculated possible back pay awards at between $20 million and $43 million.