Lawsuit Claims Flower Foods Bakery Workers Owed Wages for ‘Donning and Doffing’ Time

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A former employee has filed suit against Flowers Foods, Inc. and subsidiary Flowers Baking Co. of Knoxville, LLC over unpaid wage claims. The man says he worked as a production employee in various positions at the defendants’ Knoxville, Tennessee bakery and was paid between $17.60 and $19.10 per hour throughout his employment.

According to the lawsuit, employees were not permitted to clock in until after they had put on required clothing and safety equipment and walked “to the middle of the plant” – time for which the plaintiff claims they should have been paid. Similarly, employees were allegedly required to clock out before removing equipment and changing back into their own clothing. The lawsuit argues that this “donning and doffing” time added up to a significant amount of “off the clock” work for which employees received no compensation, despite that these activities were "integral and indispensable" for performing their jobs.

The plaintiff further claims the defendants automatically deducted 15 minutes from his work hours each day for a meal break regardless of whether he actually took a break, time the man says was compensable.