Poultry Wages Settlement: Payout Dates, Check Amounts, and the August 31 Deadline
The first round of poultry wages settlement checks started going out on May 15, 2026, and you can still file: the participation period was extended to August 31, 2026. Poultry companies including Perdue, Tyson, and Pilgrim's Pride agreed to pay $398.05 million to settle claims they conspired to suppress plant workers' pay (Jien v. Perdue Farms). Filing is free.
Settlement at a glance
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When will the poultry wages settlement pay out?
Payments are already going out. The administrator's first round of distribution began May 15, 2026, and workers began posting that checks arrived in early June. If you filed during the original participation period and haven't received anything yet, that does not mean you were rejected. A distribution to a class this size goes out in batches.
If you file now, under the extended deadline, your form goes into a later phase: the administrator has not announced a date for the second distribution. That is normal: a second round can only be scheduled once the late participation window closes on August 31, 2026.
The case itself is fully resolved. The court granted final approval of the $398.05 million in settlements on June 5, 2025, and approved the final piece — the Agri Stats settlement — on March 10, 2026, per co-lead counsel Cohen Milstein.
How much is the payout per person?
There is no flat amount. Each participating worker gets a pro rata share weighted by three things the administrator counts: how many workers participate in total, how long you worked for the defendants, and your total earnings during that time.
One real check has been reported publicly so far:
“Caught me by complete surprise. Kind of in shock. Perdue farms settlement. Got $319.53!”
What the average check could look like
This is an illustration; the administrator sets the real number. It divides the at least $255.38 million left for workers (the $398.05M fund minus the maximum court-approved fees and costs) by a participation count you choose. Nobody knows the final count yet.
The administrator weights each payment pro rata by how long you worked and what you earned during the class period. Work more years at higher pay and your share sits above the average; a short stint sits below it. The only publicly reported first-round check so far was $319.53, from a worker who posted it on Reddit in June 2026.
Where the $398.05 million came from
The fund was built over four years of settlements as defendants settled one after another, ending with Agri Stats in 2026. The court-documented pieces:
Settlements by defendant group ($ millions)
*Calculated: the $398.05M court-approved total minus the four itemized settlements above. Sources: Cohen Milstein and Berger Montague case pages (Jien v. Perdue Farms, Inc., No. 1:19-cv-02521, D. Md.).
Can you still file? Yes — until August 31, 2026
You will see posts insisting the deadline passed a year ago. That was true of the original participation period. But the administrator extended the participation period to August 31, 2026, and forms submitted now are considered in a later distribution phase.
You qualify to participate if:
- You worked as a non-supervisory, hourly employee at a poultry processing complex, plant, hatchery, or feed mill operated by a defendant poultry company
- That work happened between January 1, 2000 and July 20, 2021
- You can provide a copy of a photo ID (driver's license or employee ID), or at least one paycheck or paystub from that employment
File online at the official settlement site, or mail the participation form to the administrator. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing. Payout also tracks this settlement on its Poultry Wages Settlement page alongside every other open settlement.
The official website (and how to spot the copies)
The official settlement website is poultrywages.com, run by the court-appointed administrator A.B. Data, Ltd. (P.O. Box 173016, Milwaukee, WI 53217). File there, update your address, or check your information. It costs nothing.
Two things to watch for in search results. First, development copies of the official site on azurewebsites.net addresses rank for these searches. They mirror the real notice, but the official domain is poultrywages.com. Second, third-party sites offer to help you file. Filing directly with the administrator is free, and the settlement fund is completely separate from any app or service. If anything charges you a fee to submit a claim, do not use it.
What workers are reporting
Workers post payment evidence in community threads before it shows up anywhere else. The threads agree on two things right now: first-round checks are real and arriving, and everyone else is waiting on a batch or on the later phase.
“I have been waiting for my payment”
On Facebook, the “Class Action Lawsuits and Settlements” group thread “Did anyone receive a payment yet from the Poultry Wages Settlement?” has drawn 130+ comments since June, with the same mix of arrived checks and workers still waiting.
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Frequently asked questions
If you bought chicken at the store during those years, the separate broiler chicken price-fixing settlement covered consumers instead of workers, under a different case and fund. And if this is your first claim, how to claim a class action settlement walks through the process end to end.
Payout is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Settlement information is for general informational purposes only and reflects the public settlement record as of August 3, 2026. Eligibility, claim review, payment timing, and any payment amount are determined by the settlement administrator and court-approved terms, and are not guaranteed. Community reports are individual experiences, not a promise of any payment amount.
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