KY’s BlueOval employees sue EV battery maker for uncompensated time working
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Workers allege missed pay for pre- and post-shift tasks at KY EV battery plant
- Lawsuit cites violations of KY Wages Act and federal labor standards by BlueOval SK
- Complaint follows union vote, safety concerns and ongoing labor disputes at plant
Kentucky employees are suing BlueOval SK, alleging in a class action lawsuit they haven’t been fairly compensated for required work activities they do before and after their scheduled shifts.
In a complaint filed Sept. 24 in Michigan — where BlueOval SK, the partnership between Ford Motor Co. and South Korean SK On, is based — workers claim they’re only compensated for a scheduled shift, which doesn’t include time spent putting on required safety gear.
Their employer, workers said in the lawsuit, is in violation of the Kentucky Wages and Hours Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act for the “unlawful practice of refusing to pay” employees.
Once workers have appropriate footwear on, they must walk to their designated worksite within the electric vehicle battery plant, racking up more uncompensated time, the complaint said. There, workers are able to access a break room before going to their assigned location, and only then can they clock in.
The complaint alleges compensable time is rounded to assigned start and end times, rather than beginning when safety equipment is put on, then later taken off. Claims about uncompensated travel time and time spent dealing with safety equipment are repeated in the lawsuit related to a shift’s end.
“As a result of BlueOval’s compensation system, and other practices and policies followed by BlueOval, Plaintiff and those similarly situated are not paid for all of the time which they work presently and they have not been paid for all of the time they have worked since the Glendale, Kentucky facility has been open,” the complaint said.
BlueOval SK Senior Communications Manager Mallory Cooke said the company is unable to comment on pending litigation but said it would cooperate with the legal process. Attorneys representing the battery plant’s employees were not immediately available for comment.
Ford Motor Co. and SK On began building the nearly $6 billion, 1,500-acre campus in 2022. Two plants, each estimated to employ 2,500 people, are being built at the site. Only one plant, Kentucky 1, is currently operating and so far, it employs just over 1,400 people.
The plant is just outside Elizabethtown, about 90 miles southwest of Lexington and 50 miles south of Louisville. According to 2023 estimates from a study commissioned by the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce, once complete, the entire plant is anticipated to be the largest electric vehicle battery plant in the world and the second-largest manufacturing site in the country by square feet.
The plaintiff, Kentucky resident Bobby McKnight, filed the lawsuit last week, roughly a month after commercial production of batteries began at the plant and workers voted to unionize with the United Auto Workers.
BlueOval SK’s hourly-paid employees who have worked at the Kentucky plant in the past three years and who have been required to wear specific foot wear before entering the facility can join as plaintiffs, the complaint says. At least eight other BlueOval SK employees have signed on to the lawsuit as of Sept. 30.
In return, they’re seeking a jury trial and compensation for all hours worked. If successful in prosecuting action for unpaid overtime wages, the federal labor law says the plaintiffs will have their legal fees reimbursed.
BlueOval SK came under fire this summer when workers claimed their employer had launched an anti-union campaign that included surveying workers and intimidating them. Those workers filed several cases of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board between last November and this summer, many of which are still unresolved.
Earlier this year, whistleblowers at BlueOval also drew attention to a pattern of workplace injuries and concern their colleagues were given faulty safety equipment. This year, Kentucky’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the battery plant for health and safety issues related to its fire extinguishers.
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