Betting on a bonus? Not if you wagered on who'd get COVID.

• Author: Hyman, Jon

In late 2020, Tyson Foods fired seven of its pork processing plant managers after they were caught betting on which of their employees would next get sick with COVID. At that time, more than 1,000 Tyson employees had fallen ill, and six had died.

Announcing the firings, the company's president and CEO said, "The behaviors exhibited by these individuals do not represent the Tyson core values, which is why we took immediate and appropriate action to get to the truth. Now that the investigation has concluded, we are taking action based on the findings."

They sued anyway

Not content with leaving well enough alone, five of the seven fired managers sued Tyson Foods claiming that the company owed them a bonus payment pursuant to the company's Annual Incentive Plan. That plan made it clear that any bonus payments were discretionary by the company: "All allocations and individual Awards under this Plan are considered fully discretionary by Tyson Foods."

Moreover, the bonus award calculations that Tyson provided to employees also confirmed the discretionary nature of the bonus payments:

Any payouts made to eligible team members under the AIP are considered fully discretionary by Tyson Foods, and may be adjusted for corporate, business unit and individual contribution and performance as determined by Tyson Foods in its sole discretion. This statement (as well as any information contained in this statement) does not constitute ... an agreement to pay a specific salary or incentive amount.

Those two facts proved fatal to the wage claims of the five...