Merced judge orders Foster Farms plant to follow COVID-19 safety rules ahead of hearing
Following a coronavirus outbreak that infected hundreds of workers and killed several, the Foster Farms plant in Livingston must now provide masks and comply with other state safety health protocols, a judge ruled.
A week after the United Farm Workers labor union filed a lawsuit against the poultry giant demanding better workplace conditions, a judge in Merced County on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order requiring the company to distribute and enforce the use of face masks or shields to workers where social distancing isn’t possible.
The company is also required to perform temperature checks and health screenings for visitors and workers before entering the plant, install physical dividers in places where it’s hard for workers to remain socially distant and inform its employees of testing requirements, outbreaks, and safety training in multiple languages, including English, Spanish and Punjabi.
The lawsuit does not seek to close the plant, UFW confirmed. Instead, the group wants the court to force Foster Farms to operate safely under CDC guidelines for meatpacking plants.
“Employees at Foster Farms deserve a workplace that follows basic safety guidelines and places workers’ long-term health above short-term profits,” UFW 3rd Vice President Erika Navarrete said in a statement. “After months of the company’s half-measures and hundreds of infections, only court action can protect workers and Merced County residents from Foster Farms’ dangerous practices.”
The suit, filed in Merced County Superior Court, asked for the immediate temporary restraining order to force Foster Farms to comply with COVID-19 health safety protocols that UFW claimed had not been followed “despite nine workers at the plant dying and over 400 becoming infected.”
The Livingston plant in Merced County, which is one of the largest chicken processing facilities in the U.S., was previously ordered to shut down temporarily late this summer during one of the deadliest outbreaks in the state, according to local public health officials. The outbreak at Foster Farms accounted for nearly 20% of all virus deaths in Merced County for those under 65 years old and 40% of deaths in Livingston, county data shows.
Foster Farms failed to create six feet of distance between employees who are required to work on lines for hours at a time, did not provide adequate masks or PPE, and failed to adequately inform workers of sick leave options, the labor union said. The UFW also claimed the company did not follow additional national safety guidelines to protect essential workers.
Reached for comment on Thursday, Foster Farms reissued an identical statement sent to The Bee last week when the lawsuit was initially filed.
The company said it was “committed to the health and welfare of its employees” and that it is actively working with county officials to secure vaccine dosages for workers.
“Foster Farms is working closely with the Merced County Department of Public Health and is sharing its learnings in the interest of controlling prevalence at other businesses and institutions with public health departments in the Central Valley,” company officials said.
Since the pandemic began, the company told The Bee it had performed 59,000 tests at its facilities, including 29,000 at the Livingston plant. It doubled down on its efforts to follow safety rules, company officials said, by implementing a three-step “multi-hurdle” approach to controlling the coronavirus.
“Our ongoing effort is reflected in a consistent positivity level at the Livingston Poultry Complex of less than 1% since September 2020, even as testing positivity in Merced County has increased to 13.1% with no signs of abating,” the company said.
Two weeks ago, another outbreak took place at a second Foster Farms facility in Fresno County, where at least 193 workers at the 1,400-person plant in southwest Fresno tested positive for COVID-19. The plant shut down for the weekend and underwent a “deep cleaning.”
A court hearing is scheduled to take place on Jan. 29, the date the restraining order expires.
This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 2:37 PM.