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Sanitation Firm Fined $650K For Employing Minors At Meatpacking Plants

By Nithya Bose in Business News, posted May 9, 2024

A Tennessee-based sanitation company has agreed to pay nearly $650,000 in fines for illegally employing minors in hazardous jobs at meatpacking facilities.

The Department of Labor investigation revealed Fayette Janitorial sent minors as young as 13 to work overnight in slaughterhouses.

The company engaged them in cleaning activities involving sharp machinery and dangerous chemicals.

A federal judge has approved a consent order.

This requires the company to appoint a third-party consultant to ensure compliance with federal labor laws.

It must also establish a hotline for reporting child labor violations.

The probe into Fayette Janitorial began after suspicious activity was noted at a pork processing plant in Sioux City, Iowa.

Investigators spent weeks surveilling a Seaboard Triumph Foods facility in Iowa and a Perdue Farms plant in Virginia.

This revealed dozens of workers appeared to be underage.

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In one incident, a 13-year-old's arm was severely injured while cleaning a conveyor belt at the plant in Virginia.

The case highlights ongoing issues with child labor in high-risk industries.

The federal law prohibits minors from working in particularly hazardous roles, including those involving meat and poultry processing machinery.

DOL: “Our actions to stop these violations will help ensure that more children are not hurt in the future”

In response to the findings, companies like Perdue and Seaboard Triumph Foods have terminated their contracts with Fayette Janitorial.

This enforcement action aims to prevent further exploitation of children and ensure that all employers adhere to the necessary legal and ethical standards.

Jessica Looman, administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, said: “As we’ve unfortunately seen in this case, employers’ violations of federal child labor laws have real consequences on children’s lives.

“Our actions to stop these violations will help ensure that more children are not hurt in the future.”

Andrea Staub, Perdue’s senior vice president of corporate communications, said: “Underage labor has no place in our business or industry.

"It is unacceptable and runs counter to our values as a 104-year-old, family-owned company. Perdue has strong safeguards in place to ensure that all associates are legally eligible to work in our facilities — and we expect the same of our vendors.”

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