WASHINGTON (AP) – Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. is paying $2.25 million to settle federal allegations of sex discrimination. The Labor Department says Tyson will distribute the payment as back wages, interest and benefits to more than 1,650 qualified female job applicants who were rejected for employment at plants in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. Tyson entered into two consent decrees with the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which brought the cases. Tyson Fresh Meats is a subsidiary of Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods Inc., and one of the world’s largest processors of beef and pork.