The U.S. Department of Labor announced on Friday that a major food sanitation company had paid $1.5M in penalties after employing over 100 teens in dangerous jobs in meatpacking facilities in eight states.
The Department of Health and Human Services said that Packers Sanitation Services Inc. allowed at least 102 kids between the ages of 13 and 17 to work overnight and to use dangerous chemicals to clean meat processing equipment, such as “brisketsaws” and “head-splitters,” which are used to kill animals.
Meatpacking companies provide cleaning services in conjunction with Packers.
The federal labor law prohibits minors under 18 years of age from working in meatpacking facilities. Children are also banned from working after 9 pm in the summer and 7 pm during the school year.
The biggest penalties against the Packers were based on its contracts with JBS USA in Nebraska and Minnesota and a Cargill Inc. plant in Kansas. The Labor Department has not accused JBS, Cargill, or other meatpackers.
Packers, a Wisconsin-based company, said in a press release that it had a zero-tolerance policy for hiring minors. After learning about the Labor Department investigation, the company conducted an audit on its employees and hired a firm to review its hiring policies.
In November, the department sued Packers before a Nebraska federal court over allegations that at least 31 minors were employed at three meatpacking factories. In December, the Packers settled its lawsuit by agreeing not to hire children. It also decided to have an external specialist monitor the company’s compliance with labor laws.
The Labor Department conducted a wider investigation into Packers, which led to the fines announced Friday.
In the lawsuit, the department stated that the majority of children working at the three factories were not fluent English speakers and were interviewed in Spanish. However, it was unclear whether the children were immigrants. According to a spokesperson for the Labor Department, the agency didn’t verify the immigration status of these children.
Reuters reported that child labor, particularly migrants, is widely used in Alabama chicken plants and by contractors at Hyundai and Kia assembly factories.
Automakers say they don’t condone violations of labor laws and are reviewing the hiring practices used by suppliers.
Marc Perrone said that a fine was not enough. Their entire business model is based on the exploitation of workers and the use of vicious tactics to break up unions. They also violate human rights. He urged the meatpacking sector to use its power to stop the exploitation and abuse of children.
When asked about the immigration status, Seema Nada, a solicitor at the Labor Department, said that the department only focuses on whether the children are minors.
Michael Lazzeri is the regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division of the Department. He said that because the department was a civil law enforcement agency, it could not comment on the possibility of criminal charges being brought against the companies or whether the children involved were victims of trafficking. He said that any trafficking detected is reported to other agencies.
Looman stated that the Wage and Hour Division had seen a 50 percent increase in child labor since 2018. This includes minors working longer hours than allowed in jobs otherwise legal, using equipment they shouldn’t be using while working legal positions, and children working in places they shouldn’t have been employed.