Your work. Your records.
Slaughter and Meat Packing Worker Workplace Records
Meat processing work may involve specialized stations and repeated handoffs along a line. An employment concern needs the particular task and instruction you were assigned. Describe your own work and observations, keeping the account separate from assumptions about the cause of a product defect or another worker’s actions.
Call now(800) 800-5555Free initial case evaluation. Representation depends on work state and case eligibility. This guide explains record preparation; it does not determine whether a legal claim exists.
A record map for your role
What to organize first
Station chronology
List the assigned processing steps and who directed any change during the shift.
Observed condition
Separate what you directly saw from later quality findings or management explanations.
Personal time
Pair your own hours and correction request with required preparation and sanitation tasks.
Start with the work you actually do
Perform nonroutine or precision functions involving the preparation of large portions of meat. Work may include specialized slaughtering tasks, cutting standard or premium cuts of meat for marketing, making sausage, or wrapping meats. Work typically occurs in slaughtering, meat packing, or wholesale establishments.
O*NET classifies this occupation as Slaughterers and Meat Packers (51-3023.00). Its description covers a typical occupation, not every workplace or individual job. It does not establish employee status, overtime eligibility or employer misconduct.
- Remove bones, and cut meat into standard cuts in preparation for marketing.Source task 13986 · updated 07/2017
- Sever jugular veins to drain blood and facilitate slaughtering.Source task 13991 · updated 07/2017
- Tend assembly lines, performing a few of the many cuts needed to process a carcass.Source task 13990 · updated 07/2017
- Shackle hind legs of animals to raise them for slaughtering or skinning.Source task 13994 · updated 07/2017
A reference point for your pay records
May 2025 wage estimates by state
Compare your pay records with published BLS estimates for Slaughterers and Meat Packers (SOC 51-3023). These describe an occupation across employers. They are not a required pay rate, an overtime calculation, or evidence of discrimination or unpaid wages.
Select your work state to see its published pay range. No personal pay information is requested or sent.
The 25th and 75th percentiles mark the middle half of the estimated wage distribution; the median is its midpoint. Actual pay can differ with experience, employer, location and duties. Hourly and annual figures are shown as published, without converting one into the other.
All published state estimates for this occupation
| State | Hourly 25th | Hourly median | Hourly 75th | Annual median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $16.32 | $17.48 | $18.38 | $36,360 |
| Arizona | $23.53 | $23.57 | $28.30 | $49,020 |
| Arkansas | $16.36 | $18.17 | $18.79 | $37,800 |
| Connecticut | $16.90 | $17.45 | $21.27 | $36,290 |
| Delaware | $15.00 | $15.00 | $15.00 | $31,200 |
| Florida | $14.70 | $16.56 | $16.69 | $34,430 |
| Georgia | $16.03 | $17.68 | $18.99 | $36,770 |
| Hawaii | $17.12 | $18.70 | $21.71 | $38,890 |
| Idaho | $18.25 | $19.41 | $22.92 | $40,370 |
| Indiana | $20.49 | $21.05 | $21.78 | $43,770 |
| Iowa | $19.10 | $21.07 | $21.48 | $43,820 |
| Kansas | $22.02 | $23.19 | $23.75 | $48,240 |
| Kentucky | $18.04 | $18.43 | $20.38 | $38,330 |
| Louisiana | $14.56 | $19.29 | $19.29 | $40,120 |
| Maine | $16.56 | $18.63 | $21.38 | $38,740 |
| Michigan | $20.02 | $22.04 | $25.54 | $45,850 |
| Minnesota | $19.29 | $20.85 | $21.13 | $43,360 |
| Mississippi | $14.07 | $16.18 | $17.14 | $33,650 |
| Missouri | $18.16 | $21.39 | $22.61 | $44,490 |
| Montana | $20.87 | $22.45 | $23.49 | $46,700 |
| Nebraska | $21.66 | $23.52 | $24.87 | $48,910 |
| New Hampshire | $18.68 | $18.88 | $23.68 | $39,270 |
| New Mexico | $14.16 | $14.69 | $14.72 | $30,560 |
| New York | $16.25 | $16.29 | $18.72 | $33,880 |
| North Carolina | $17.18 | $19.20 | $22.20 | $39,930 |
| North Dakota | $17.26 | $19.10 | $22.30 | $39,730 |
| Ohio | $17.13 | $17.69 | $18.12 | $36,800 |
| Oklahoma | $16.72 | $22.10 | $22.10 | $45,970 |
| Pennsylvania | $17.21 | $17.95 | $20.22 | $37,330 |
| Rhode Island | $18.06 | $18.06 | $22.64 | $37,570 |
| South Dakota | $18.58 | $21.35 | $21.85 | $44,410 |
| Tennessee | $16.61 | $17.21 | $19.42 | $35,790 |
| Texas | $16.50 | $20.75 | $23.23 | $43,160 |
| Utah | $19.08 | $21.17 | $21.29 | $44,040 |
| Vermont | $16.49 | $20.30 | $22.70 | $42,220 |
| Virginia | $17.87 | $18.00 | $18.00 | $37,430 |
| Wisconsin | $16.95 | $18.03 | $23.58 | $37,510 |
“Not published” preserves unavailable or suppressed source cells. “Above reporting limit” preserves a top-coded source value without inventing a number. A missing state estimate does not establish service eligibility. The data describe wage and salary employment; they do not measure self-employment income.
Source: BLS May 2025 state workbook · OEWS tables · BLS technical notes. Use your own schedule, pay statement and compensation terms to identify the question you want reviewed.
Identify the station and change
Record the general processing stage, tool or equipment category and supervising role. Note a transfer to another station or changed pace instruction. Distinguish the product condition you received from what happened during your own task and what was reported after the next handoff.
Explain preparation and interruptions
List required setup, sanitation and closing duties relevant to your own hours or performance review. Record equipment or staffing issues you reported and the response. Compare your time entry with the sequence rather than estimating your workday from the line’s operating hours.
Keep records and conditions safe
Do not recreate a cutting or handling condition, remove product samples or copy restricted facility records. Identify relevant quality-log types and dates for review. Keep your own training, report acknowledgment and employment feedback without changing operational records to support a later account.
Choose your next step
Review the workplace retaliation guide, unpaid wages guide, or discrimination guide if those concerns fit your experience. A job title alone does not establish a claim.
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