Smithfield and OSHA Settle Suit Over Health Inspection Records

Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. and OSHA settled a lawsuit filed by the company to prevent the federal safety agency from getting documents related to employee reports of illness, Covid-19 test results, and interviews with its South Dakota plant workers.

Smithfield asked a South Dakota federal court on July 1 to keep the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from certain inspection documents held by the state’s Department of Health, arguing its employees “have legitimate privacy interests in this information,” according to its motion to quash the OSHA subpoena.

OSHA had served its subpoena on the health department June 23, seeking records related to a Covid-19 outbreak at Smithfield’s Sioux Falls facility, which closed for more than three weeks after hundreds of workers there tested positive for the coronavirus.

South Dakota U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons said in an email that the health department had “fully complied with the subpoena issued to it by OSHA and the United States.”

With their tightly packed production lines, U.S. meatpacking plants have become highly localized coronavirus hotspots. Smithfield in May won dismissal of a Missouri federal court lawsuit over worker safety, with a judge concluding that OSHA has primary jurisdiction over the regulatory environment in which such facilities operate during the pandemic.

The agency wanted to see statistical data on potential Covid-19 clusters, recommendations issued to Smithfield by the South Dakota health department, interviews with workers, and other items. A joint motion to dismiss the case was filed July 29. U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier dismissed the matter without prejudice to its being reopened.

Representatives from Smithfield didn’t respond to phone calls or written requests seeking comment on the terms of the settlement.

The case is Smithfield v. OSHA, D.S.D., No. 4:20-mc-18, 7/29/20.