November 5, 2026
The U.S. Department of Justice will not be allowed to participate in an upcoming approval hearing for $200 million in wage-fixing settlements that beef and pork plant workers reached with major meat processors, a Colorado federal judge ruled Thursday, but the court will consider enforcers’ concerns.
U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer’s brief minute order denies the government’s bid to participate in the final fairness hearing set for Nov. 13, saying only class members can object to a proposed class settlement. But he said he would consider its concerns about the lack of injunctive provisions “in deciding whether the settlements are fair, reasonable and adequate.”
The decision follows the Justice Department’s Sept. 29 statement of interest urging the court to reject the settlements as currently proposed because they do nothing to block future wage-fixing among the companies, which include Perdue Farms, Triumph Foods, Tyson Foods, National Beef Packing, Cargill and Hormel Foods Corp.
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However, the proposed class, which last month sought final approval of the $200 million worth of cumulative deals, argued in its response the Justice Department is raising concerns about conduct that stopped back in 2019.
“Plaintiffs’ counsel started and finished the case with no government investigation or aid,” they said. “Now, after four years of silence, not having reviewed the detailed record and ignorant of the give-and-take of the settlement negotiations, the Department of Justice makes an eleventh-hour attempt to derail plaintiffs’ historic settlements.”
The response said the DOJ is concerned about a compensation survey conducted by industry consultant Webber Meng Sahl & Co. Inc. But the workers said Webber Meng Sahl was shut down as the result of a separate antitrust case targeting poultry plant wages and is under a consent decree filed in a DOJ case that prevents it from operating ever again.
“There is no meaningful injunctive relief to obtain in connection with [Webber Meng Sahl],” the response stated.
The DOJ is also concerned about compensation surveys the processors conducted themselves, but the workers said there is no evidence showing the surveys were conducted after 2019. The response said the court has also already dismissed claims from the case based on surveys conducted by the processors between 2000 and 2019.
The workers’ motion for final approval of the settlements, which total $202.8 million, said the result represents the second-largest recovery in an antitrust class action filed on behalf of low-wage workers and the third-largest recovery ever in a wage-fixing class action.
“In addition to substantial compensation, the settlement agreements provide a measure of justice to hundreds of thousands of deserving low-wage workers, who did difficult and dangerous jobs day-in and day-out while their employers conspired behind closed doors to pay them less,” the workers said.
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The workers are represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP, and Berger Montague PC.
Read DOJ Can’t Appear Over Meat Plant Wage-Fixing Deal Concerns.