KIELER, WIS. – The US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced on Feb. 17 that sanitation company Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) would pay $1.5 million in civil penalties after the department found that at least 102 workers from 13 to 17 years of age were cleaning meatpacking plants.
The investigation found that the minors were working overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states.
DOL shared that PSSI was assessed a penalty of $15,138 per minor-aged employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The amount is the maximum civil money penalty allowed by federal law.
Following the announcement of penalties, PSSI released a statement regarding the situation.
“We are pleased to have finalized this settlement figure as part of our previously announced December resolution with the Department of Labor (DOL) that ends their inquiry,” the company said. “We have been crystal clear from the start: Our company has a zero-tolerance policy against employing anyone under the age of 18 and fully shares the DOL’s objective of ensuring full compliance at all locations.
“As soon as we became aware of the DOL’s allegations, we conducted multiple additional audits of our employee base, and hired a third-party law firm to review and help further strengthen our policies in this area. We have also conducted multiple additional trainings for hiring managers, including on spotting identity theft.”
The company said its audits and DOL investigation confirmed...
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