SALT LAKE CITY -- More than $200,000 will be divided up among hundreds of job applicants who were denied certain jobs because of racial or sexual discrimination, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.

The Utah facilities of FedEx Ground and Nestle USA Prepared Foods Division Inc. each settled an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor for discriminating against job applicants over the past two years.

FedEx Ground in North Salt Lake City will pay 161 minority and 230 female applicants $110,000 in back pay and will hire 76 package handlers for its distribution center from those groups, according to the agreement.

Nestle USA will pay $120,000 in back pay and will hire nine laborers from among the 179 rejected minority applicants at its Springville site.

Both companies have also agreed to undertake extensive self-monitoring measures to ensure hiring practices comply with the law and correct any discriminatory practice.

"The department is committed to ensuring that all Americans are hired, promoted and compensated fairly, without respect to their race, gender, ethnicity, disability, religion or veterans' status," said Charles James, deputy assistant secretary for federal contract compliance, in a prepared statement.

The settlements should "put all federal contractors on notice that the department is serious about eliminating systemic discrimination," the statement says.

FedEx Ground shipped packages for the labor department, company spokesman David Westrick said.

The agreement, which admits no liability, shows the company wants to make a good faith effort in closing the case, he said.

"I think that this shows we take this seriously and diversity and getting a diverse workforce is very important," Westrick said by telephone from company headquarters in Pittsburgh.

Messages left by The Associated Press with Nestle USA officials were not immediately returned Thursday.