PUBLIX SETTLES BACK WAGES CASE

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets here has agreed to pay $1.1 million in back wages to approximately 1,300 employees of its dairy, bakery and deli manufacturing facilities in Georgia and Florida as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, according to the Labor Department's Atlanta regional office.

nd manufacturing facilities, one here and the other in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

"We are pleased that this case has been settled without long and costly litigation," said Alfred Perry, regional administrator at the Labor Department's Wage and Hour division, Atlanta. "Thanks to the efforts of our investigators and the company's own self-audits, workers will quickly receive compensation they are due."

Publix agreed to make the payments without admitting liability and to comply in the future with the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act relating to time required for uniform changing.

A Publix spokesman told SN the finding resulted from a routine Labor Department inspection and not from a complaint by an employee.