Labor dept. accuses company of employing dozens of children at slaughterhouses

A federal judge on Thursday granted a nationwide injunction against an industrial cleaning company, ordering the company to end its use of “oppressive child labor” after an investigation found it was employing dozens of children as young as 13—some of whom were injured while working in meatpacking facilities.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) requested the injunction in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska after completing an investigation of Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. (PSSI) that began in late August.

The federal government had received a tip alleging that PSSI was illegally employing children and that they were working in hazardous conditions.

The complaint filed by the DOL alleges that the company has employed at least 31 children between the ages of 13 and 17, all of whom spoke Spanish. The children were working in meatpacking plants in Grand Island, Nebraska; Worthington, Minnesota; and Marshall, Minnesota. JBS USA owned the plants, a subsidiary of the largest meat processor in the world, and Turkey Valley Farms.

The DOL outlined numerous alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which prohibits companies from employing children under the age of 14. Children aged 14 and 15 cannot work past 7:00 pm during the school year or past 9:00 pm between June 1 and Labor Day, and cannot work more than 18 hours per week. There’s a prohibition on all minors from operating hazardous equipment at work.

One child interviewed by DOL investigators reported that they worked for PSSI starting when they were 13, cleaning machinery on the “kill floor” at one of the plants. The 14-year-old worked more than 18 hours per week during overnight shifts, and suffered a burn injury from the cleaning chemicals they used.

Another child reported working from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am five to six days per week for four months when they were 14. They also reported suffering chemical burns and said they fell asleep in their middle school classes and missed school due to their grueling work schedule.

The DOL also accused PSSI of trying to interfere in its investigation by deleting and changing employee records and intimidating the children who gave interviews.

A spokesperson for PSSI told The Washington Post the company does not employ anyone under the age of 18 and suggested “rogue individuals” may have sought “to engage in fraud or identity theft”—despite the fact that the DOL investigators used several methods to verify the identities and ages of the children they interviewed.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.