New York () — A major US food sanitation company illegally employed at least 102 minors between the ages of 13 and 17 for jobs that required caustic chemicals to clean sharp saws.
Packers Sanitation Services paid $1.5 million in civil penalties for employing minors in dangerous tasks and making them work night shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states, a US Department of Labor investigation has found (DOL).
The Kieler, Wisconsin-based company employed the minors to clean meat processing equipment such as back saws, chest saws and head slicers. According to investigators, at least three minors were injured.
The company was fined the maximum civil penalty allowed under federal law: $15,138 for each underage worker “who was employed in violation of the law.”
“We have been very clear from the beginning: our company has a zero-tolerance policy against the employment of anyone under the age of 18 and fully shares the Labor Department’s goal of ensuring full compliance everywhere,” a spokesperson said. of Packers Sanitation in a statement Friday.
The company said none of the underage workers are currently employed at the company, and that “many” of them had worked there years ago.
“As soon as we became aware of the DOL’s allegations, we conducted multiple additional audits of our employee base, and retained a third-party law firm to review and help further strengthen our policies in this area,” the statement said. statement. “We’ve also conducted multiple additional trainings for hiring managers, including identity theft detection.”
The DOL investigation began last August with an examination of the company’s workers at JBS USA plants in Nebraska and Minnesota.
In November, a complaint was filed in the US District Court for Nebraska alleging that Packers Sanitation illegally employed at least 31 children to clean dangerous electrical equipment. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the company from further violations of child labor laws.
In December, Packers agreed to take “significant steps” to comply with labor laws after signing a consent order and a judgment.
Packers paid a total of $741,762 in fines at two JBS Foods in Grand Island, Nebraska, and Worthington, Minnesota, for employing 49 minors. Separately, Packers was also fined for employing 26 minors at a Cargill Inc. processor in Dodge City, Kansas, as well as plants in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas.
“These children should never have been employed in meatpacking plants and this can only happen when employers fail to take responsibility for preventing child labor violations from taking place in the first place,” said Jessica Looman, the Division’s principal deputy administrator. of Wages and Hours of the Department of Labor.
