Springdale-based Tyson Foods is being sued by 34 employees, former workers and their families who contend the company didn't take adequate precautions in its plants when covid-19 first hit the United States.
In a suit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Monday, the plaintiffs, who were connected to five of the company's Arkansas plants, contend that during the early days and height of the covid-19 pandemic, Tyson Foods operated with a business-as-usual attitude. Tyson Fresh Meats, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, is also named in the suit as a co-defendant.
In a Tuesday email, a Tyson Foods spokesman said the company declined to comment about the suit.
Judge Mackie M. Pierce has been assigned the case.
The suit claims Tyson chose profits over the safety of its workers and their families' by forcing them to work in conditions the company knew to be unsafe and to foster the spread of covid-19, leading to extreme emotional distress, illness and death. The plaintiffs are asking for a jury trial and monetary damages.
According to the filing, the plaintiffs argue Tyson Foods failed to deal with the highly contagious disease during the early days of the pandemic. In the five Arkansas plants mentioned in the suit, the company didn't reduce the numbers of workers on shift at any one time, ignored social distancing guidelines and didn't provide enough personal protection gear like gloves and masks.
The suit indicates Tyson Foods knew about the effects of covid-19 in China and its risks as early as January 2020 and in February had halted operations at some plants in China and reduced operations at others. It argues Tyson formed a covid-19 task force in January to observe its China operations, allowed corporate non-essential employees to work remotely in March while in its Arkansas plants the company didn't provide masks or enforce proper social distancing guidance until April.
The Arkansas plants were "particularly vulnerable to covid-19," according to the court documents, because of the high density of workers, close contact on the production line, and compact cafeteria and locker areas, along with employees with "diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds making education about the virus more difficult."
Shares of Tyson Foods fell 38 cents, or less than 1%, to close Tuesday at $58.37 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares have traded as low as $58.13 and as high at $99.54 over the past year.