More than 100 children as young as 13 years old cleaned dangerous meat processing equipment using hazardous chemicals for a sanitation company contracted by major meat and poultry producers, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday.
Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD, of Kieler, Wisconsin, paid a $1.5 million fine assessed by the labor department after the agency found it employed 102 minors ages 13 to 17 in “hazardous occupations” at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states, the department said.
Some underage employees also worked overnight shifts, and at least three sustained injuries on the job, the labor department said.
Minors were employed in the largest numbers at two JBS Foods facilities in Nebraska (27) and Minnesota (22), and at a Cargill Inc. facility in Kansas (26), according to the investigation.
The $1.5 million fine, paid by the company on Feb. 16, concludes an investigation that began in August and led to two court orders from a federal judge late last year.
A judge issued in November a restraining order prohibiting Packers Sanitation Services from committing child labor violations, and then in December, the company agreed to a court order requiring it to take significant steps to ensure it was in compliance with federal child labor laws at its operations nationwide, according to the labor department.
Packers Sanitation Services previously suggested underage workers could have misrepresented their age to bypass the company’s identity verification measures.
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It said in a statement that it has an “absolute company-wide prohibition against the employment of anyone under the age of 18 and zero tolerance for any violation of that policy – period.,” adding that it conducted multiple audits when it became aware of the labor department’s allegations.
Labor department officials claimed in last week’s news release that Packers Sanitation Services ignored “flags” in its systems that some young workers were underage.
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Many of the underage workers identified in the investigation had not worked for the company in years, according to Packers Sanitation Services spokesperson Gina Swenson, who added that the company employs no one under the age of 18 today.
Contributing: Karl Ebert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel