You Might Be Owed Money If You Worked During 2015 Iowa Bird Flu Outbreak

Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@vonshnauzer?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Egor Myznik</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a7VG3Jrl2Lg?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>

By Amie Rivers

April 12, 2023

Did you work to kill chickens or clean farms during the 2015 avian influenza outbreak in Iowa? You might be eligible for back wages.

The federal government is trying to locate people who worked in Osceola, Sioux, and Cherokee counties in Iowa during the 2015 bird flu outbreak.

That’s because the US Department of Labor (DOL) won $1.7 million in back wages for nearly 2,900 workers employed by subcontractors in those three counties.

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Clean Harbors Environmental Services of Massachusetts was contracted by the government to remove poultry and poultry waste potentially infected by bird flu between April and September of 2015.

But the DOL says Clean Harbors contracted that work out to 145 subcontractors, and those subcontractors did not pay the prevailing wage required by the federal contract.

“The Wage and Hour Division is determined to make sure the employers pay federal contract workers their full prevailing wages, and we are eager to find the people owed these back wages,” said Regional Wage and Hour Division Administrator Michael Lazzeri in a statement this week.

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Subcontractors for Clean Harbors include Center for Toxicology & Environmental Health and Cotton Logistics, Cotton Logistics, SWS Environmental Services, Trident Environmental Group LLC, and Triad Services.

Check the DOL’s database here to find out if you’re owed money and apply for back wages.

by Amie Rivers
4/12/23

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Amie Rivers

Amie Rivers is Iowa Starting Line's newsletter editor. She writes the weekly Worker’s Almanac edition of Iowa Starting Line, featuring a roundup of the worker news you need to know. Previously, she was an award-winning journalist at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier; now, she very much enjoys making TikToks and memes and getting pet photos in her inbox.

Have a story tip? Reach Amie at [email protected]. For local reporting in Iowa that connects the dots, from policy to people, sign up for Amie's newsletter.

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