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Mass. Factory Settles Worker Lawsuit After ICE Raid

The former owners of a New Bedford factory that was the target of a giant immigration raid last year have agreed to pay $850,000 to settle claims the company underpaid its workers.

WBUR's Abigail Beshkin reports.

The agreement settles claim that the owners of Michael Bianco, which makes military gear for the Defense Department, avoided paying overtime by making it look as though employees worked for two different companies.

The suit also said the company would deduct as much as 30 minutes of pay when workers clocked in just a minute late, which was usually not their fault according to Greater Boston Legal Services attorney Audrey Richardson.

RICHARDSON: Most of the time the reason that the workers clocked in slightly late was not that they arrived at the factory late, but because Michael Bianco did not have enough time clocks. So there were long lines at the time clocks, creating bottlenecks and delays in clocking in.

764 former workers will share the money, and can collect even if they're not in the country.

This program aired on November 18, 2008. The audio for this program is not available.

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