Two meat packing plants in Arkansas are caught up in a high-profile nationwide sting to suss out child labor law violations.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that they discovered 102 children ages 13-17 working overnight shifts in plants in Arkansas and across the country. Those young workers were tasked with cleaning up caustic chemicals and sanitizing saws and other processing equipment. Four of those children were working at George’s Inc. in Batesville, and six of them were working at a Tyson facility in Green Forest.
Packers Sanitation Services Inc., a contractor that cleans these facilities, is on the hook for $1.5 million in penalties. From the Labor Department’s announcement:
“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.”
“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...
Foley partner Lisa Noller, Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department, will be speaking at the American Bar Association’s Qui Tam & Civil False Claims and Healthcare Fraud Institute in Washingt...