Hourly production workers at Cargill Meat Solutions’ Wyalusing, Hazleton and Camp Hill, Pennsylvania plants are covered by a settlement of about $4.93 million that a federal judge approved in November 2026. The settlement resolves claims that Cargill did not pay overtime for COVID-19 screening and walking time; payment details have not yet been published.
What Happened?
A federal judge in Scranton has granted final approval to a settlement of about $4.93 million in Villa v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., No. 3:22-cv-1321, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Mealey’s reported the approval on November 11, 2026, saying U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani found the settlement “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”The workers alleged that Cargill violated the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act by not paying overtime for two kinds of time: the mandatory COVID-19 screening employees went through before punching in, and the time spent walking between the plant entrances or turnstiles and their assigned timeclocks at the start and end of each shift. According to the class certification opinion, Cargill paid hourly workers “punch-to-punch” at timeclocks located in or near their departments, and the screening took place before employees punched in. Cargill disputed the claims, and a settlement is not a court finding that the company broke the law.
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Who Is in the Class?
Judge Mariani certified the class on October 2, 2024. It covers all production workers who, during any week since July 12, 2019, were employed by Cargill at a Pennsylvania plant, were paid an hourly wage and were paid for working 40 or more hours in at least one week. Cargill operates three Pennsylvania plants that process and distribute meat, in Wyalusing, Hazleton and Camp Hill, and told the court that its production-worker headcount at the three plants during the period at issue exceeded 3,000.Notices about the lawsuit were mailed to production workers in early 2025, after the class was certified, and the deadline to exclude oneself from the litigation class passed in March 2025. The class certification order is the source for the definition above; the settlement agreement controls the exact class and settlement period, and OCA has not yet reviewed it.
What Does the Settlement Provide?
The settlement totals about $4.93 million. Bloomberg Law and Law360 reported the preliminary approval earlier in 2026, describing it as a deal of nearly $5 million. The reports OCA reviewed do not give a per-worker amount, the attorneys’ fee award, the settlement administrator or how and when payments will go out. The window to opt out of or object to the settlement has closed. OCA will update this page when the final approval order and the settlement terms are reviewed.How the Case Got Here
The workers first sued in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on October 13, 2021, and amended their complaint on July 12, 2022. Cargill moved the case to federal court in August 2022 under the Class Action Fairness Act, and it was transferred to the Middle District of Pennsylvania that month. The court certified the class in October 2024 and appointed Winebrake & Santillo, LLC, the Community Justice Project and Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. as class counsel. Notice of the class action went out in early 2025. In September 2025 the parties asked for a settlement conference, and Judge Mariani referred the case to U.S. Magistrate Judge Sean A. Camoni; the court’s settlement officer reported on April 14, 2026 that a settlement had been reached.The case turned on how Pennsylvania law counts “hours worked.” In In re Amazon.com (2021), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that time spent on an employer’s premises waiting for and undergoing mandatory security screenings counts as hours worked under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act, and that the state law, unlike federal law, has no exception for small amounts of time. Cargill argued that the decision did not apply to temporary COVID-19 screening meant to keep plants safe, and that walking time was not compensable.
Questions
Who is covered by the Cargill Pennsylvania overtime settlement?
The class the court certified in October 2024 covers hourly production workers employed by Cargill Meat Solutions at a Pennsylvania plant during any week since July 12, 2019 who were paid for working 40 or more hours in at least one week. Cargill’s Pennsylvania plants are in Wyalusing, Hazleton and Camp Hill. The settlement papers control the exact class definition and class period.
Do Cargill workers have to file a claim to be paid?
The reports on the final approval do not say whether payments are automatic or require a claim form, and OCA has not yet reviewed the settlement agreement or the final approval order. The deadline to opt out of or object to the settlement has already passed.
How much will each Cargill worker receive?
No per-worker amount has been published in the sources OCA reviewed. The settlement totals about $4.93 million before any court-approved attorneys’ fees, costs and administration expenses are paid.
Why is COVID screening time an issue under Pennsylvania law?
In 2021 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in In re Amazon.com that time spent on an employer’s premises waiting for and undergoing mandatory security screenings counts as hours worked under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act, and that the state law has no exception for small amounts of time. The Cargill workers relied on that ruling. Cargill argued in court that the decision did not apply to temporary COVID-19 screening and that walking time was not compensable.
Sources
- Memorandum opinion granting class certification, Oct. 2, 2024 (ECF No. 48) and the accompanying order (ECF No. 49), Villa v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., No. 3:22-cv-1321 (M.D. Pa.)
- Mealey’s Class Actions: Judge Grants Final Approval of $4.9M Class Action Settlement in Overtime Wage Suit (Nov. 11, 2026)
- Bloomberg Law: Cargill Workers Nab First Nod for Nearly $5 Million Wage Deal
- Law360: Cargill Unit Gets Initial OK for $5M Off-the-Clock Wage Deal
- Rocket-Courier: Lawsuit Includes Workers at Cargill’s Wyalusing Plant (Feb. 12, 2025)
