(Radio Iowa) – Federal officials say nearly three-thousand workers hired to euthanize chickens and turkeys struck by bird flu in 2015 are eligible for back pay. 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 wage. 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. A news release from the Department of Labor indicates it’s searching for eligible employees who worked eight years ago at sites in Osceola, Sioux City and Cherokee.

In 2015, Radio Iowa reported there were confirmed bird flu outbreaks in Osceola, Sioux and Cherokee COUNTIES, but not in those cities.