Provider pays $1.5M fine for child labor use

One of the country’s largest food sanitation service providers has paid $1.5 million in penalties for illegally employing at least 102 children to clean meatpacking plants on overnight shifts in eight states, the Labor Department announced Friday.

The company, Packers Sanitation Services, employed minors as young as 13 to use dangerous chemicals to clean “razor-sharp saws,” head splitters and other high-risk equipment at 13 meatpacking facilities, the Labor Department said. The plants are operated by some of the country’s most powerful meat-processing companies, including JBS Foods, Tyson and Cargill. Those companies were not charged or fined.

Investigators learned in recent months that at least three children suffered injuries during their work.

“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,” said Jessica Looman, principal deputy administrator of the Labor Department’s wage and hour division, in a statement. “These children should never have been employed in meat packing plants and this can only happen when employers do no take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place.”

Packers Sanitation Service’s payment of $1.5 million civil penalties is the result of a federal investigation that began in August.

Gina Swenson, a spokesperson for the company, said in November that the firm was confident in its hiring policies.

“While rogue individuals could of course seek to engage in fraud or identity theft, we are confident in our company’s strict compliance policies and will defend ourselves vigorously against these claims,” Swenson said.