Smithfield and OSHA Settle Suit Over Health Inspection Records

Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. and OSHA settled a lawsuit filed by the company to prevent the federal safety agency from getting documents related to employee reports of illness, Covid-19 test results, and interviews with its South Dakota plant workers.

Smithfield asked a South Dakota federal court on July 1 to keep the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from certain inspection documents held by the state’s Department of Health, arguing its employees “have legitimate privacy interests in this information,” according to its motion to quash the OSHA subpoena.

OSHA had served its subpoena on the health department June 23, seeking records ...