Mountaire Farms, Workers Get Initial Approval of $7 Million Deal

Mountaire Farms Inc. and workers at a chicken processing plant in North Carolina were granted preliminary approval of a $7.3 million settlement they reached in the workers’ wage suit.

The workers sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act, seeking unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, and unlawfully deducted wages.

The claims related to time spent donning and doffing protective gear, the unlawful deduction from their paychecks of payments for chicken purchased through a work program, and charges for optional lost or damaged gear, Magistrate Judge Robert B. Jones Jr. said in his recommendation to ...