A North Carolina company that rounds up live chickens for poultry processors has paid nearly $600,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 838 workers as part of a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Marshville company, Unicon Inc., paid the back wages to employees who worked as chicken catchers and van drivers. Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions at the company’s worksites throughout the northeast and southeast.