Finding Justice After a Pilgrim’s Poultry Plant Accident

• August 8, 2024
• Attorney Matt Stoddard
• Warehouse Accidents

Pilgrim’s Pride, Pilgrim’s Global, or simply “Pilgrim’s” is a poultry and pork packing company founded in Texas in the 1940s, and currently headquartered in Colorado. Though originally (and still officially) an American company, the majority of Pilgrim’s stock now belongs to the Brazilian company JBS — the single largest global meatpacking company in the world.

For people working in the many Pilgrim’s processing plants across the American South, including here Georgia, the daily reality of churning out multiple saleable birds per second comes with significant, and often pointless, risks.

Pilgrim’s History of Industrial Accidents Is Concerning, Even for a Poultry Company

The poultry industry has a relatively low death rate, but a nonfatal injury rate almost 45% higher than the national average across all of private industry.

This kind of data is difficult to track accurately, however, because employers are highly motivated to downplay accidents, and often have the power to keep injured employees quiet.

There’s reason to question whether Pilgrim’s public accident reports are complete. During a 2016 inspection of a Pilgrim’s poultry plant in Live Oak, Florida, OSHA discovered that the plant had been refusing to refer its employees for medical care, as required under worker’s comp law. Instead, management was directing injured employees to visit the nurse’s office for daily onsite first aid, sometimes for weeks or months at a time.

First aid should only be used to treat very minor injuries, or as a stopgap measure to stabilize more serious injuries until the patient can receive proper care. Onsite nurses are not qualified to determine what treatment is necessary for persistent injuries. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for employers to try to handle accidents “in house,” both to avoid paying for appropriate care and to avoid reporting injuries accurately.

Even judging solely by publicized incidents, however, the Pilgrim’s company has had some alarming safety failures.

Perhaps most notably, employees at the Pilgrim’s plant in Guntersville, Alabama suffered a total of six serious accidents in less than four years, spanning from 2016 to 2020. One employee lost the tip of a thumb, another lost a thumb entirely, and another broke a hip tripping over the leg of a machine stand. The whole staff had to be evacuated due to an ammonia leak, which then became a fire — in addition to its painful and damaging effects on the respiratory system, ammonia is flammable and potentially explosive. Finally, in 2020, a man fell to his death from a mechanical freight lift with no fall guards.

The Moorefield plant in West Virginia has also seen a disproportionately dense cluster of serious accidents, albeit on a smaller scale. In a period of less than two months in 2015, three employees were injured in separate, entirely preventable incidents. One fractured an arm due to entanglement in a machine without safety guards, one took a fall while refilling a machine without adequate step access, and another lost three fingers while removing meat from a blender that had not been properly disconnected for cleaning.

Thousands of Georgia Residents Live at the Mercy of Pilgrim’s Safety Standards

Pilgrim’s has several large facilities located in Georgia, including poultry plants in Canton, Gainesville, and Athens.

Over the past couple of decades, Pilgrim’s employees in Georgia alone have been rushed to the hospital for a laundry list of reasons, including a boiler explosion, another ammonia leak, and another entanglement injury incurred while trying to dislodge debris from a powered-on machine.

The victim in the entanglement incident died of his injuries.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that big employers, like Pilgrim’s, hold public safety in their hands. When thousands of people spend a third or more of their time working under circumstances controlled by one company, that company’s attitude toward human health and safety can shape the fate of entire communities.

In these situations, it’s especially crucial for workers to have avenues of recourse if that company lets them down.

The Pilgrim’s Plant in Athens Has a Particularly Troubling History of Workplace Violence

Unsurprisingly, the Pilgrim’s plant in Athens, Georgia has had its share of accident prevention issues, including citations for missing safety guards on its machines. What’s more unusual is the number of violent threats and altercations reported on or in connection with the property.

Back in 2004, an employee shot and killed his supervisor during work at the Athens plant. The shooter and victim were both allegedly having an affair with the same coworker. Both were also married to other people.

In 2019, an employee at the Athens plant reported that a coworker had shoved him into a wall, knocking him unconscious. He stated that his attacker was still stomping on his chest when he regained consciousness, shortly before a supervisor intervened.

Then, in August of 2023, a recently terminated employee of a farm in Comer, which supplies the Athens plant, was arrested for allegedly sabotaging the cooling and watering systems for six chicken houses. Although he denied the accusations of cruelty to animals, the suspect acknowledged sending several “threatening and disturbing” messages to people at both the farm and the Pilgrim’s plant.

Pilgrim’s role in these incidents is twofold. Firstly, as the owner of the plant, Pilgrim’s has a legal duty to take all threats of violence against people on the property seriously, and provide security accordingly. Secondly, as an employer, Pilgrim’s may be liable for the harmful actions of its on-duty employees, especially if those employees have shown warning signs of violence in the past.

Employers Are Immune to Liability for Most Workplace Injuries and Deaths

As mentioned above, worker’s comp law requires big employers like Pilgrim’s to refer employees for appropriate medical care after any workplace accident. The employer must also cover the cost of this care, either directly or through a worker’s comp insurance policy. In case of on-the-job fatalities, worker’s comp benefits include a small payout for the next of kin.

Ideally, this system allows all victims of workplace accidents to access care and cover immediate expenses, without having to wait for an investigation to determine fault.

The trade-off is that employers are immune to civil lawsuits relating to any incident covered by worker’s comp. In cases where the employer’s negligence clearly caused serious harm to the employee, those worker’s comp benefits represent only a tiny fraction of what a victim would normally be entitled to in court.

If you’ve been injured while working for Pilgrim’s, there are a few exceptions to employer immunity that might allow you to sue for full compensation:

• You are classified as a contractor, not an employee.
• Pilgrim’s has refused to honor your worker’s comp benefits.
• Your injuries were the result of an intentional act (like a shooting) rather than accidental.

Even if none of these exceptions apply to you, don’t give up without discussing your case with a lawyer. There are alternatives that may allow you to collect the full compensation you deserve without suing Pilgrim’s directly.

The Stoddard Firm Helps Industrial Accident Victims Win Real Compensation

The Stoddard Firm is deeply passionate about holding powerful companies accountable for negligent behavior to the greatest extent possible under the law. Our first priority, however, is helping injured people and grieving families. In workplace injury cases, achieving the best possible outcome for our client usually means looking beyond the most obvious defendant, so that’s what we do.

Employer immunity only covers the direct employer of the injured party. Any other companies or organizations that contributed to that victim’s injuries are fair game for a lawsuit. So, for example, possible defendants for a Pilgrim’s poultry plant accident lawsuit would include:

• The manufacturer of any machinery involved in the accident, particularly if the machinery malfunctioned or lacked safety-conscious design features.
• The manufacturer of any protective gear, such as harnesses, gloves, or respirators, that failed to perform as advertised.
• Any repair or retooling company that made the plant’s equipment more dangerous than its original design, such as by removing hand guards.
• Maintenance and safety consulting companies that failed to catch early warning signs of the accident.

To speak directly with an Atlanta lawyer about your specific case and how we can help you get the compensation you need, reach out to the Stoddard Firm any time by phone or chat for a free consultation.