The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 bars all minors from working with certain hazardous equipment; prohibits kids who are 14 and 15 from working past 7pm, or for more than three hours a day; and mandates that children under the age of 14 can't work at all. Now, a food sanitation service provider has been hit with fines totaling $1.5 million for apparently violating all three of those rules, reports the Washington Post. The company, Packers Sanitation Services, is accused by the Department of Labor of illegally hiring more than 100 kids to clean more than a dozen meatpacking plants in eight states, working overnight shifts while exposed to dangerous gear and chemicals.
According to a probe that began in August, the DOL says the children, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, cleaned slaughterhouses operated by some of the nation's most well-known meatpacking companies, including Tyson, Cargill, and JBS Foods. The children were reported to have used toxic chemicals to clean "razor-sharp saws," head splitters, and other "high-risk" equipment, and investigators say at least three of the children were injured on the job, including one who suffered a chemical burn to the face. "Our investigation found Packers Sanitation Services' systems flagged some young workers as minors, but the company ignored the flags," says Michael Lazzeri, a regional DOL administrator.
He notes that when DOL officials showed up at some of the plants with search warrants, "the adults—who had recruited, hired, and supervised these children—tried to derail our efforts to investigate their employment practices." Advocates and attorneys for the children tell NBC News that some of the underage workers were unaccompanied minors who only recently entered the United States across the southern border. Last month, Department of Homeland Security officials told the news outlet that it was looking into whether any of the children had been illegally trafficked, though NBC notes there's no suggestion that Packers itself was being investigated for trafficking.
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A spokeswoman for the DOL calls the alleged child labor violations "systemic" ones that "clearly indicate a corporate-wide failure by Packers Sanitation Services at all levels," per the Post. A Packers rep says they're glad to have reached a "settlement figure," in terms of the fines, adding: "We have been crystal clear from the start: Our company has a zero-tolerance policy against employing anyone under the age of 18 and fully shares the DOL's objective of ensuring full compliance at all locations." (More child labor stories.)
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