Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Labor ordered J&J Snack Foods Corp. to pay $2.1 million in backpay owed to temporary workers at two facilities who had been "significantly" cheated out of their earned wages.
- At one facility, 465 temporary workers weren't adequately paid for overtime hours after a 40-hour week, and the company was ordered to pay over $1.2 million in back wages and liquidated damages to those workers, according to the department.
- Earlier this year, at another J&J facility, 212 temporary workers did not earn minimum wage or overtime, and the company now must repay $920,000 in back wages and liquidated damages.
Dive Insight:
"Many hourly workers live paycheck-to-paycheck, and they rely on every penny to pay the rent, feed their families, and keep the lights on. Cheating workers out of the wages they've earned hurts them, their families and entire communities," U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said in a news release.
Food manufacturing wages are on the rise in the U.S., though those wages still lag behind much of the overall manufacturing industry. Based on preliminary results, average hourly wages for food manufacturing workers jumped $0.75 year over year from $18.43 in September 2014 to $19.18 in September 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Last week, Tyson announced plans to raise wages for thousands of chicken plant employees.