One of the largest food sanitation companies in the United States illegally employed at least 102 children in dangerous jobs cleaning meatpacking and slaughtering plants, the Labor Department said on Friday.
The company, Packers Sanitation Services Inc., paid a $1.5 million penalty on Thursday, the department said, after an investigation found that children ages 13 to 17 had worked overnight shifts at 13 meat processing plants in eight states, mostly in the South and the Midwest.
The department said the children had used hazardous chemicals to clean processing equipment, including back saws, brisket saws and head splitters. Its investigators learned that at least three minors had been injured while working for the company, the department said.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Packers was fined $15,138 for each illegally employed child — the maximum civil monetary penalty allowed under federal law.
Some researchers have criticized the civil monetary penalties, which are set by Congress, as “woefully insufficient” to protect workers and to deter employers from violating labor laws.
“It’s really shameful that the level of fine is so low,” said Celine McNicholas, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a research group that seeks to improve conditions for workers. “It’s not sufficiently toothy enough to prevent the use of child labor in the meatpacking industry.”
Packers, which is based in Kieler, Wis., employs more than 16,500 workers and provides contract...
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