MA Farm ordered to pay underpaid workers

Federal labor regulators say the owners of a western Massachusetts farm have been ordered to pay more than $300,000 in back wages, damages and penalties for underpaying workers.

The U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday that it had secured a consent judgment in the federal court ordering Whately-based Chang & Sons Enterprises Inc. to pay 14 workers on its bean sprout and soybean farm. Federal authorities say the workers were paid below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and often worked 90 hours per week planting, harvesting, and packaging sprouts. Instead, they were paid a flat rate of $350 to $450 per week.
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