ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – A federal judge ruled May 17 that workers at a Farmland Foods Inc. pork-processing plant in Milan, Mo., should be paid for time spent changing into and out of their uniforms. Farmland Foods is a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods Inc.

US District Judge Fernando Gaitan, Jr., in a summary judgment, said a Supreme Court ruling clearly required companies to pay workers for donning and doffing activities. The class-action case, Ingersoll et al v. Farmland Foods Inc., was filed April 29, 2010. The plaintiffs are a group of current production and support workers employed at the Farmland Foods Milan plant. The class representatives in the case are Jacob Ingersoll, Joshua Tiedemann, Anthony Arzola and Consuelo Arzola.