NEWS IN BRIEF

— 7 suing Butterball file for class-action status

Seven current or former employees of Arkansas Butterball LLC plants asked a judge Thursday to grant class-action status in a suit against that company seeking payment for time used to prepare for their daily jobs.

The suit states that Butterball LLC did not pay the workers for all time used to change into protective clothing, sanitize gear and equipment, and walk to and from the production floor.

The suit filed in federal court in Little Rock by Roxie Garner, Roy Garner, Jason Foster, Miguel Anguiano Arraujo, Christopher Smith, John Snarr and James Rollins is related to a similar case filed against the same company in 2008 that is still in the court system.

The suit asks for an injunction to force Butterball to pay for job-preparation time until the case is decided by a jury.

In June, a similar classaction suit against Tyson Foods Inc. that was filed in 2002 ended with a consent judgment granting $500,000 in overtime back wages to 3,000 workers in a Blountsville, Ala., plant.

The judgment placed an injunction that governs pay practices for poultry-processing employees in Tyson plants across the country.

Suit seeks EPA ban

on crop insecticide

Two environmental groups filed a lawsuit this week to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to make a final determination on whether it will ban chlorpyrifos, an insecticide commonly used on corn, cotton and othercrops.

The plaintiffs, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pesticide Action Network North America, said the EPA did not respond to the groups’ September 2007 petition to ban chlorpyrifos.

In their suit, the groups allege that chlorpyrifos poses “serious threats to human health,” including nerve damage and birth defects.

Mike Thomas, the director of the Arkansas Plant Board’s pesticide commission, said there are no restrictions against chlorpyrifos use in Arkansas.

The suit was filed in U.S.

District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Arkansas Index up

5.34 as truckers roll

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, was up 5.34 to 178.59 Friday.

All but one stock gained ground.

Three trucking companies did especially well.

USA Truck rose 7.6 percent, P.A.M. Transportation Services advanced 7.4 percent, and Arkansas Best climbed 4.7 percent.

For the week, only two stocks declined.

America’s Car-Mart had the best week, rising 12.4 percent, and Dillard’s rose 11.9 percent for the same period.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 25 on 07/24/2010

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