More than 100 children age 13 to 17 were employed in hazardous positions by one of the nation’s largest food safety sanitation services providers, the U.S. Department of Labor revealed Friday.
According to the department, Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD paid $1.5 million in civil money penalties Thursday after the children were found “in hazardous occupations and had them working overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states.”
These facilities were: George’s Inc. in Arkansas, Tyson Food Inc. in Arkansas, JBS Foods in Colorado, Maple Leaf Farms Inc. in Indiana, Cargill Inc. in Kansas, Turkey Valley Farms in Minnesota, Buckhead Meat of Minnesota in Minnesota, JBS Foods in Minnesota, Gibbon Packing Co. in Nebraska, Greater Omaha Packing Co. Inc in Nebraska, Tyson Food Inc. in Tennessee and Cargill Inc. in Texas. More information about the facilities is available here.
An investigation into the facilities, locations where Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD provided cleaning services under contract, began in August 2022. By early November, Solicitor’s Office filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of Nebraska. Evidence backing the complaint indicated that the company employed at least 31 children.
“The division found that children were working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws and head splitters,” said the Department of Labor. “Investigators learned at least three minors suffered injuries while working for PSSI.”
U.S. District Court Judge John M. Gerrard issued a temporary restraining order on Nov. 10, forbidding the company and its employees from committing child labor violations. Then, the U.S. District Court of Nebraska entered a consent order and judgment Dec. 6 “in which the employer agreed to comply with the FLSA’s child labor provisions in all of its operations nationwide, and to take significant steps to ensure future compliance with the law, including employing an outside compliance specialist.”
“Our investigation found Packers Sanitation Services’ systems flagged some young workers as minors, but the company ignored the flags. When the Wage and Hour Division arrived with warrants, the adults – who had recruited, hired and supervised these children – tried to derail our efforts to investigate their employment practices,” said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Michael Lazzeri in Chicago.
Per the Department of Labor, children under 14 years old in the U.S. can work delivering newspapers, babysitting (on a casual basis), as an actor, as a “homeworker gathering evergreens and making evergreen wreaths,” and for a “business owned entirely by your parents as long as you are not employed in mining, manufacturing, or any of the 17 hazardous occupations.”
That list includes operating power-driven meat processing equipment. Children underage 17 also can work in more situations, but they are also prohibited from working hazardous jobs.
Last year, there were 835 cases with child labor violations, according to the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. From 2012 to 2022, there were an average of 811 cases per year.
“The child labor violations in this case were systemic and reached across eight states, and clearly indicate a corporate-wide failure by Packers Sanitation Services at all levels,” explained Principal Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division Jessica Looman. “These children should never have been employed in meat packing plants and this can only happen when employers do not take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place.”
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