Anyone who worked on a beef or pork processing line at a covered company between January 1, 2000 and February 27, 2024 may be in line for a share of $202.7 million in wage-fixing settlements with Tyson, JBS, Cargill and other meat companies. The Justice Department wants the judge to withhold approval of those deals, and Judge Philip Brimmer is scheduled to take up the dispute on November 13. Workers have until March 26, 2027 to get into the payout.
Notice or no notice, March 26 is the date
Who has to do what depends on the letter or email a worker received. Under the plaintiffs’ firms’ March 19 announcement, a worker whose notice shows a compensation amount does not need to file anything to be paid. That worker should still update contact, employment and earnings details with the administrator, A.B. Data.
A worker whose notice says earnings information is missing has to supply it. A worker who never got a notice files a participation form, online or by mail. The announcement set the cutoff for all of this at February 4, 2027, but Hagens Berman’s case summary logged a May 6 extension of the claim deadline to March 26, 2027, the date workers should now plan around.
The money does not move until the court signs off. Hagens Berman’s schedule has distribution beginning April 27, 2027, and that start date depends on final approval coming first. Payments will be pro rata, according to the announcement, so the check depends on how many workers take part, how long each worked, what each earned and what fees the judge allows.
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Why the Justice Department wants approval withheld
On September 29 the United States filed a statement of interest in Brown v. JBS USA Food Company, the wage-fixing case in federal court in Colorado. It says “none of the proposed settlements contains any injunctive provision,” meaning no court-enforced promise to change how the companies set pay. It asks the judge to “withhold final approval of the proposed settlements with the red meat processors in their present form.”
The filing was signed by Henry C. Su, a senior litigation counsel in the Antitrust Division, with Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole A. Sarrine among the names on the signature block. Their argument starts from the workers’ own complaint, which says the conduct continues to the present and asks for a permanent injunction.
Money alone, the department argues, is not an adequate remedy. It quotes an older Supreme Court decision that a remedy must “assure the public freedom from its continuance.” It also warns that the settlements’ broad releases could let a defendant lean on them in later cases. The filing contains no dollar figures and does not ask the court to cancel the payments.
The objection reaches the deals with Perdue, Seaboard, Triumph Foods, JBS, Tyson, American Foods Group, National Beef, Cargill, Hormel with Rochelle Foods and Quality Pork Processors, Agri Beef with Washington Beef, Indiana Packers and Greater Omaha. It does not object to Agri Stats or Webber, Meng, Sahl and Company, saying it already won injunctive relief against both in separate litigation.
What the department wants instead is for the parties to come back with an injunctive proposal developed with input from the United States. Separately, it says it had not yet received the agreements with Smithfield Foods, Smithfield Packaged Meats and Murphy-Brown of Missouri, and that federal law bars final approval until 90 days after proper service on the department.
Where the $202.7 million comes from
The $202.7 million total was published by the plaintiffs’ firms, Hagens Berman, Handley Farah & Anderson and Cohen Milstein. They describe $191.45 million from nine defendants in a main class and $11.25 million from two defendants in a subclass. Hagens Berman’s own table of individual deals adds up to $202.8 million, a gap of about $100,000.
That table lists Tyson at $72.5 million, JBS at $55 million, Cargill Meat at $29.75 million and National Beef at $14.2 million. Hormel, Rochelle Foods and Quality Pork Processors together pay $13.5 million, Seaboard $10 million, American Foods $4 million, Agri Beef and Washington Beef $1.4 million, Perdue $1.25 million, Indiana Packers $1.1 million and Greater Omaha $100,000.
The main class covers anyone who worked at a defendant’s U.S. beef or pork processing plant from January 1, 2000 to February 27, 2024. The subclass starts in 2014. Plaintiffs Ron Brown and Minka Garmon say the companies conspired to hold down pay for hundreds of thousands of non-managerial employees, and the companies deny the claims.
Lawyers for the workers are asking for up to 33.33 percent of the settlements, or $67,559,910, plus up to $6 million in costs and up to $4 million for notice and administration. If the judge grants every request, roughly $125 million would be left for workers. Class representatives could receive up to $30,000 each.
What November 13 decides
The fairness hearing is set for 9:00 a.m. on November 13, and the department has asked for leave to take part if its objections are still unresolved by then. The deadline to opt out or object passed on September 29, so workers who stayed in the case are bound by whatever the court decides.
Cohen Milstein’s case summary, updated October 18, still lists final approval as pending. The judge could approve the deals as written or send the parties back to negotiate injunction terms, and either path changes when checks go out. The claim cutoff of March 26, 2027 is the date now on the schedule for workers who still need to file.
Anyone who is unsure which kind of notice applies can use the administrator’s claims site, BeefPorkWages.com, or call 1-877-411-4775. The announcement also lists an email address and a mailing address for A.B. Data in Milwaukee.
Not sure which meatpacking notice is yours?
A worker who tosses the notice, or updates the wrong field, can end up outside a $202.7 million payout that may not be final until after November 13. The date that matters most, March 26, 2027, is months away and easy to lose among court hearings, objection deadlines and distribution dates.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice, so a worker can tell the hearing date from the claim deadline and the payment date. It also includes a claim log and payment tracker that records what was filed and what is still owed.
Get the notice-date guide and payment tracker for a pending settlement →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
