The Department of Justice proposed an amended complaint and consent decree in the District of Maryland that would resolve claims that chicken producer George’s Inc. and George’s Foods conspired with other poultry processors for years to suppress workers’ wages by exchanging compensation information.
The department previously reached proposed consent decrees in this matter with poultry processors Cargill, Sanderson Farms, and Wayne Farms, as well as with a data consultant, Webber, Meng, Sahl and Co., and its president, G. Jonathan Meng.
The Justice Department said George’s provided significant and voluntary cooperation to its investigation.
George’s is one of the largest vertically integrated chicken producers in America and a leading prepared foods manufacturer. It has more than 6,000 employees at its plants in Arkansas, Missouri, and Virginia.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, George’s must pay $5.8 million in restitution for poultry processing plant workers who were harmed by the conspiracy and must cease sharing competitively sensitive information about poultry processing plant workers’ compensation.
If approved by the court, the proposed settlement also imposes a compliance monitor who, for the next seven years, will ensure George’s compliance with the terms of the proposed decree and all federal antitrust laws.
“The antitrust laws protect American workers from information exchanges, like these, that damage competition and the competitive process,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
This action is part of a broader investigation into anticompetitive labor market abuses in the poultry processing industry.
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