Gonzalez v. Farmington Foods, Inc.

• Decision Date: 19 December 2003
• Docket Number: No. 00 C 8062.,00 C 8062.
• Citation: 296 F.Supp.2d 912
• Parties: Juan T. GONZALEZ, Sergio Gonzales, Maria L. Llames, Lino Rubio, Rafael Cruz, Nicolas Pedro, Felipe Flores, and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. FARMINGTON FOODS, INC. Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

Page 912

296 F.Supp.2d 912

Juan T. GONZALEZ, Sergio Gonzales, Maria L. Llames, Lino Rubio, Rafael Cruz, Nicolas Pedro, Felipe Flores, and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. FARMINGTON FOODS, INC. Defendant.

No. 00 C 8062.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

December 19, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Charles Orlove, Marisel Ayabarreno Hernandez, William Walter Leathem, Beth A. Clukey, Jacobs, Burns, Orlove, Stanton & Hernandez, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs.

Timothy D. McMahon, Robert J. Mangan, Wiedner & McAuliffe, Ltd., Chicago, IL, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

LEVIN, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiffs Juan T. Gonzalez, Sergio Gonzales, Maria L. Llames, Lino Rubio, Rafael Cruz, Nicolas Pedro, Felipe Flores, and all others similarly situated (hereinafter "Plaintiffs") seek recovery in an Amended Complaint alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (hereinafter "FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., the Illinois Minimum Wage Law, 820 ILCS 105/1 et seq. and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, 820 ILCS 115/1 et seq. Pending before the Court is Defendant Farmington Foods, Inc.'s (hereinafter "Defendant") motion for summary judgment in the cause. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, Defendant's motion is granted as to its state law claims and denied as to the FLSA claims.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant owns and operates a meat processing plant located in Forest Park, Illinois.¹ (Def.'s Am. LR56.1(a)(3) St. ¶ 1.) Defendant's business entails primarily deboning, trimming and packaging pork loins for resale to hotels, restaurants, and grocery stores; however, it also processes a variety of beef and chicken products. (Def.'s Am. LR56.1(a)(3) St. ¶ 1; Def.'s Resp. to Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 7.) Defendant employs between 130 and 140 employees comprised of approximately forty-five to forty-six pace boners and pace trimmers (individuals who debone, cut and trim meat)² and the balance of the employees are laborers (individuals who inter alia weigh, package, and ship pork products). (Def.'s Am. LR56.1(a)(3) St. ¶¶ 12, 13, 15; Def.'s Resp. to Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 8.) Defendant's plant has one shift and generally runs five days per week and occasionally on Saturdays. (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 6.) Mr. Juan Velasquez supervises the pace boners and pace trimmers and Mr. Ismael Venegas supervises the laborers. (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶¶ 4, 5.) The production line typically starts each morning when a bell is rung at 6:00 a.m. (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 9.)

Plaintiffs, in this case, are current and former employees of Defendant who are or have been represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 546100-A (formerly Local 100-A through July 2001) (hereinafter the "union"). (Def.'s Am. LR56.1(a)(3) St. ¶ 2.) The union has been the collective bargaining agent for Defendant's production workers (as is pertinent herein, pace boners, pace trimmers and laborers) for approximately twelve to fifteen years and has entered into successive collective bargaining agreements. (Id. ¶ 3.) The two most recent collective bargaining agreements cover the periods November 1, 1997 through October 31, 2000 and November 1, 2000 through October 31, 2004, respectively. (Id. ¶¶ 3, 4; Def.'s Ex. 8, p. 18.) Mr. Javier Ramirez, the Director of Organizing for Local 546100-A, was the chief negotiator for the union for the most recent collective bargaining agreement (i.e., November 1, 2000 through October 31, 2004). (Id. ¶ 5.)

At issue in the case are the two most recent collective bargaining agreements. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege, in violation of the collective bargaining agreements, Defendant failed to pay them their regular rate of pay for hours they worked up to forty hours per week and for hours they worked in excess of forty hours per week (i.e., overtime on a weekly basis) as required by the FLSA for the following: (1) donning and doffing necessary and required sanitary and safety equipment; (2) donning and doffing required sanitary and safety equipment during meal breaks (as well as other compensable activities during meal breaks); (3) meal breaks; (4) cleaning equipment (on a daily and weekly basis); (5) sharpening knives; and (6) time spent before and after line operations. (Am.Complt.¶ 6.) 29 U.S.C. §§ 206; 207. Plaintiffs further assert state law claims in violation of the Illinois Minimum Wage Law and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act on these same stated bases. (Am. Complt. ¶ 12 (Supplementary Count I & II)). 820 ILCS 105/4; 820 ILCS 115/3, 115/4.

Plaintiffs further complain that Defendant violated the FLSA by failing to make keep and preserve adequate and accurate records of the wages, hours and other conditions of employment maintained by Defendant (i.e., Defendant's records failed to show adequately and accurately, inter alia, the number of hours worked each workday and the total number hours worked each workweek with respect to its employees). (Id. ¶ 7.) 29 U.S.C. §§ 211(c); 215(a)(7).

DISPUTED BACKGROUND FACTS

Donning and Doffing Sanitary and Safety Equipment, and Equipment Cleaning

In general, while disputed, the facts in the case involve the pace boners and pace trimmers donning certain sanitary and safety equipment before taking their places on the production line (i.e., pace line) and doffing the same sanitary and safety equipment after the completion of a shift.³ While some of the sanitary and safety equipment is required, some of the pace boners and pace trimmers wear additional items for their convenience and to assist in their job performance. The sanitary and safety equipment varies according to particular positions and job assignments. Generally, a pork boner or pork trimmer utilizes the following sanitary and safety equipment: a helmet, a frock (white smock), a plastic apron, an arm guard, a belly guard, a plastic arm sleeve, a variety of gloves (i.e., cotton,⁴ plastic⁵ and steel mesh), a hook, a knife holder, a chida (a piece of steel used to straighten the edge of a knife blade) and knives. (Def.'s Am. LR56.1(a)(3) St. ¶ 38; Pls.' Resp. to Def.'s Am. LR56.1(a)(3) St. ¶ 38; Gonzalez Dep. at 24-26, 28.) At the end of the day, the pace boners and pace trimmers are required to clean their equipment. (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 56.)

The pace boners and pace trimmers typically don and doff their sanitary and safety equipment several times during the day (i.e., during breaks and lunch periods). Thus, in addition, to donning and doffing sanitary and safety equipment before and after shifts, the pace boners and pace trimmers take their safety equipment off before entering the lunchroom; however, they can wear their street clothes and belly guards under their frocks in the lunchroom.⁶ (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 58.) After lunch, the pace boners and pace trimmers are expected to be in their positions on the production line with all of their sanitary and safety equipment on when the pace line begins to operate. (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 60.) If an employee does not have his equipment on when the line starts, he can be disciplined. (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 61.)

The amount of time it takes the pace boners and pace trimmers to don and doff their sanitary and safety equipment before and after shifts and during meal periods (and clean their equipment) is disputed in the case.⁷ For example, Plaintiffs' expert Jerry Ingalls, conducted two time studies (i.e., one that was three days in length and another that was two days in length) using a stop watch to determine how much time it took the pace boners and pace trimmers to don and doff sanitary and safety equipment and clean equipment each day. (Def.'s Am. LR56.1(a)(3) St. ¶ 45; Def.'s Ex. 16, Time Study of Employees of Farmington Food, Inc., Forest Park, Illinois.) Mr. Ingalls concluded that it took the pace boners and pace trimmers 14.6 minutes per day to perform their donning, doffing and equipment cleaning activities; however, if walking time was excluded, it would take these employees 12.6 minutes to perform these activities. (Id.) Defendant's expert, Albert Swarts, also conducted a time study using MODAPTS (a predetermined time system)⁸ and found that Plaintiffs' donning, doffing and equipment cleaning activities took 5.921 minutes to perform each day. (Def.'s Am. LR56.1(a)(3) St. ¶ 46; Def.'s Ex. 17, Swarts Engineering report.)

There is, however, no dispute between the parties that the pace boners and pace trimmers are not compensated for the time it takes them to don and doff their sanitary and safety equipment. (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 51; Def.'s Resp. to Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 51.) Moreover, there is no dispute over the fact that the pace boners and pace trimmers do not get paid for the amount of time it takes them to clean their equipment. (Id.)

Knife Sharpening

The pace boners and pace trimmers (and several laborers) utilize sharp knives in their work.⁹ Because the pace boners and pace trimmers need sharp knives to perform their jobs properly, Defendant contracts with a knife-sharpening company to visit the plant once a week and replaces the knives of the pace boners and pace trimmers with newly sharpened knives.¹⁰ (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶ 70.) In between these weekly visits, the pace boners and pace trimmers typically sharpen their knives either while working on the production line (i.e. pace line) and/or before or after each shift by using a whetstone and/or childa (straightens the edge of a knife blade so it will cut smoother). (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶¶ 71, 74, 77; Def.'s Resp. to Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)(3)(B) St. ¶¶ 71, 74; Velasquez Dep. at 82-85.)

With regard to knife sharpening, the parties dispute whether the pace boners and pace trimmers are responsible for or required to sharpen their knives between visits from the knife-sharpening company.¹¹ (Pls.' Am. LR56.1(b)...