Federal officials say nearly three-thousand workers hired to euthanize chickens and turkeys struck by bird flu in 2015 are eligible for back pay, including those who worked in area counties.
According to the U-S Department of Labor, the workers were underpaid and they are owed, as a group, one-point-seven million dollars in wages. The U-S-D-A hired a Massachusetts company during the bird flu outbreak of 2015 to manage killing and disposing of infected commercial flocks and then cleaning the facilities. Federal officials say in some cases, subcontractors hired by the Massachusetts company failed to pay overtime, or the hourly wage that was paid did not match the federal guidelines.
The Department of Labor is searching for eligible employees who worked eight years ago at sites in Cherokee, Sioux, and Osceola counties to deal with bird flu outbreaks.
(credit to Radio Iowa)
