ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Farmland Foods, Inc. on Aug. 16 asked a federal judge to approve a $5.8 million settlement for a class action lawsuit that alleged the company failed to pay workers for time spent donning and doffing protective equipment before and after their shifts.

A federal judge ruled in May that workers at a Farmland Foods 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, Va.-based Smithfield Foods Inc. The class-action case, Ingersoll et al v. Farmland Foods Inc., was filed in April 2010.