Judge Backs Major Poultry Firms’ Settlement in Wage-Fixing Case

A federal judge gave backing to a batch of settlements to resolve claims that poultry producers, including Koch Foods Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc., colluded to suppress worker wages.

In a Tuesday order, Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher of the US District Court for the District of Maryland said the reached between a class of workers and poultry firms “are sufficiently fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

She granted a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement. It marks a momentous step for a lawsuit brought in 2019 and that accuses the nation’s largest chicken producers of conspiring to fix and depress ...