TACOMA — A class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Lamb Weston workers in the state of Washington claims that the company failed to provide rest periods and meal breaks.
The lawsuit is asking for at least an estimated $14 million, including attorney fees.
Lamb Weston, which produces frozen potatoes and other food, is accused of a systematic scheme of wage and hour abuses against its hourly workers in Washington.
The company strongly denied claims in the lawsuit, according to a court document filed in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court.
Lamb Weston also argues that the case does not meet standards to be certified as a class action case.
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc., based in Eagle, Idaho, is one of the largest private employers in the Mid-Columbia, where it has corporate offices, research and manufacturing facilities.
It closed its french fry plant in Connell last fall, but it operates plants in Pasco, Richland and Paterson, among other sites.
About 4,530 hourly workers were employed by the company in Washington, the majority of those in the Mid-Columbia, during the time the lawsuit covers from January 2022 to January 2025, according to the lawsuit.
It alleges that Lamb Weston failed to always provide paid 10-minute rest breaks for every four hours of work and workers were not paid for the missed rest periods.
It also did not always provide a 30-minute meal break for hourly employees, causing employees to work more than five hours without a meal break, the lawsuit says.
Workers should have been paid for 30 minutes of work if they were not relieved of all work duties during meal breaks, the lawsuit said.
Because of the lunch or meal breaks employees did not get, they worked more than 40 hours a week and should have been paid overtime, the lawsuit said.
That also affected the ability to accrue sick leave for all hours, and it shortchanged workers when the received final pay when leaving the company, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said that workers were required to be paid at least minimum wage, which was $14.49 an hour in 2022, and calculated an estimated of lost wages based on that pay rate.
It put the loss in wages to workers at more than $1 million for allegedly lost work breaks, $3.1 million for allegedly missed meal breaks and nearly $1.6 million for overtime for a total of nearly $5.7 million.
Workers are entitled to double damages, bringing the estimate to nearly $11.4 million, according to the lawsuit. In addition, it is asking for attorney fees bringing the total to $14.2 million plus interest.
Although the lawsuit includes an estimate of what they may be owed, they did not ask for a specific damage amount.
The lawsuit was initially filed in Benton County Superior Court as a class action lawsuit but a request was filed to move it to Eastern Washington U.S. District Court this month.
Derrick Gilbert is the lead plaintiff in the case and is represented by Justice Law Corp. in Pasadena, Calif.
