Flowers Foods, Delivery Drivers Agree to $9M Wage Settlement

Wholesale bakery giant Flowers Foods, Inc. and bakery delivery drivers have negotiated a $9 million settlement to resolve claims the company misclassified the employees as independent contractors and failed to pay them overtime.

The settlement proposal follows a mediation session during which Flowers Foods bargained with plaintiffs in a dozen Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuits filed in federal courts throughout the Southeast, according to the joint motion to approve the collective action settlement. The motion was filed Feb. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Flowers Foods is defending at least one other misclassification lawsuit ...