Danielle Jackson

Boston -- Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Allied Waste Industries Inc. has agreed to pay $464,000 in back wages to about 300 workers who were underpaid while working for the trash hauler on municipal contracts in Massachusetts between June 27, 1997, and Dec. 31, 2000.

About 80 percent of the back wages will be given to temporary workers who were paid between $6 and $10 per hour, below the average trash hauling wage of between $12 and $19 per hour.

The case is part of an effort by Massachusetts officials to address the wrongful use of temporary labor on taxpayer-funded contracts.