According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), a federal court in Nebraska last week entered a consent order and judgment in which Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD (PSSI)—one of the nation’s largest providers of food safety sanitation services—agreed to immediately comply with child labor laws at all facilities nationwide and to take significant steps to ensure future compliance, including employing an outside compliance specialist.
CMM’s website originally reported in November that a federal court had issued a nationwide temporary restraining order and injunction against PSSI to stop the company from illegally employing dozens of minor-aged workers—some as young as 13 years old—in hazardous occupations.
DOL investigators initially found that 31 children were cleaning dangerous powered equipment to fulfill sanitation contracts during overnight shifts at JBS USA plants in Grand Island, Nebraska, and Worthington, Minnesota, and at Turkey Valley Farms in Marshall, Minnesota. Since the issuance of the temporary restraining order, the number of minor children verified by the department to be employed by PSSI is now at least 50 across two additional locations with different processors, including George’s Inc. and Greater Omaha Packing Co. The department is still investigating PSSI and stated that this number might increase as the investigation continues.
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