Chicken Plant Settles Suit Over Back Wages

Perdue Farms has agreed to pay $10 million in back wages to about 60,000 chicken plant workers in 10 states for time spent putting on and taking off required gear.

The settlement, which has received preliminary court approval in Wilmington, stems from a class-action lawsuit filed by workers in 1999. It covers people who worked for the company from 1993 to 1999 at 18 plants in Delaware, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

The settlement is in addition to $10 million in payments provided for 25,000 workers in a May consent decree. That agreement covered employees from 2000 to 2002.

Perdue said its employees spend an average of eight minutes a day putting on and taking off the protective gear.