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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202-693-4650
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed lawsuits in four states seeking
overtime pay for more than 200 workers on chicken-catching crews at poultry
processing plants in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas.
"Workers should have confidence that they will receive the money they
are entitled to for the work that they do," said Secretary of Labor Alexis M.
Herman. "For low-wage workers overtime pay is critical. We tried hard to
resolve this issue, but in the end concluded that the only way to recover back
wages for these workers and guarantee compliance with the law in the future was
to file suit."
Improving compliance with labor standards in low-wage industries is a
top priority of the department's Wage and Hour Division, which enforces the
minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
An investigation-based survey of poultry processing plants by Wage and
Hour staff revealed only 40 percent were not violating wage and hour laws.
Survey results, announced in February 1998, indicated that most violations
occurred because employers did not pay overtime after 40 hours in the work
week, or did not keep accurate records of the hours employees worked.
Although most compliance problems identified have been successfully
resolved with the poultry processing industry's cooperation, the issue of
whether chicken-catchers are entitled to overtime pay remains in dispute.
All producers named in the court actions were investigated during the
department's compliance survey. Plants at which the overtime violations are
alleged are: Tyson Foods, Inc. of Center, Texas; Sanderson Farms, Inc. of
Laurel, Miss.; Continental Grain Co., doing business as Wayne Farms of Union
Springs, Ala.; and Perdue Farms, Inc. of Lewiston, N.C.
The lawsuits were filed in federal district court in Lufkin, Texas;
Hattiesburg, Miss.; Montgomery, Ala., and Raleigh, N.C.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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