More than 1,600 Hormel Foods workers have filed a class action lawsuit, claiming the meat processor violated Minnesota’s earned sick and safe time law over a 14-month period by requiring employees to use vacation time when calling in sick. Tim Louris, the attorney representing the workers at Hormel’s Austin, Minnesota plant, said the company refused to provide most production, maintenance, and quality control employees with additional paid leave after the state’s sick and safe time law went into effect last year. The law requires employers to offer one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, allowing full-time employees to earn up to six days of leave annually. UFCW Local 663, the union representing the workers, challenged Hormel’s approach, and a labor arbitrator ruled earlier this year that the company could not use paid vacation to satisfy the state’s sick leave requirements. Hormel, in a statement, declined to comment on ongoing litigation.
