Former employee alleges mandatory gear-up time went uncompensated across US plants
McCormick & Company faces allegations it failed to compensate more than 1,000 factory workers for up to 40 minutes of required daily tasks.
A former production coordinator has taken the spice giant to federal court in Maryland, claiming the company has been systematically underpaying its manufacturing workforce across the country.
Keon Williams, who worked at McCormick's Hunt Valley plant from approximately August 22, 2022 to July 16, 2025, filed the lawsuit on November 12, 2025 in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. He says the company violated federal wage laws by compensating employees only for time between their scheduled shifts, ignoring the substantial work required before and after those hours.
The allegations paint a picture familiar to many HR professionals managing hourly workforces. Williams says McCormick required manufacturing employees to show up early and stay late for tasks the company deemed essential but did not compensate.
Each day, according to the filing, workers spent upwards of approximately 30 minutes or more before their shifts donning an extensive array of protective gear: respirators, uniforms, gloves, safety glasses, steel-toed boots, hair nets or beard nets, and earplugs. They also had to sanitize their boots by walking through a boot scrubber, wash their hands at a handwashing station, and walk to their assigned spots on the production floor.
The issue, Williams says, was that McCormick required employees to already be at their assigned work areas on the production floor performing their manufacturing work when their official shifts began. That meant arriving early was not optional but required.
After shifts ended, workers spent upwards of approximately 10 minutes or more reversing the process, walking back from the floor and removing all their equipment. Williams also claims employees frequently had to start working before their official start times and continue past quitting time to finish tasks.
The lawsuit argues this time should count as paid work because the protective equipment was mandatory under company policy and federal safety regulations from OSHA and the FDA. Workers could not safely perform their jobs without it, and McCormick required them to put it on and take it off at the facility to maintain sanitary conditions.
Williams contends the company knew exactly what was happening because it required the pre-shift and post-shift activities and supervisors observed employees performing them. Since manufacturing workers regularly logged more than 40 hours per week, the unpaid time should have been compensated at overtime rates.
The filing characterizes McCormick's practices as willful violations rather than honest mistakes, claiming the company's payment methods were not based on any good faith belief they complied with the law.
Williams wants to represent all non-exempt manufacturing employees who worked at any of McCormick's approximately 13 U.S. plants during the three-year period prior to filing through the present. He estimates, upon information and belief, that more than 1,000 workers could be affected.
The case seeks back pay for unpaid wages, liquidated damages equal to those unpaid amounts under federal law, interest, and legal fees. No court determination has been made on the allegations.
For HR teams managing manufacturing operations, the lawsuit highlights ongoing questions around what counts as compensable time, particularly the activities that bookend production shifts.
