Judge Orders Company that Cleans Slaughterhouses to Comply With Child Labor Laws

Thursday, December 8th, 2022 -- 2:00 PM

(AP) A federal judge ordered a Wisconsin company that cleans hundreds of slaughterhouses nationwide to ensure it is complying with child labor laws after investigators identified at least 50 minors scrubbing and sanitizing dangerous equipment on overnight shifts at five different meatpacking plants in three states.

As part of an agreement with the Labor Department that was announced along with Tuesday’s court ruling in Nebraska, Packers Sanitation Services Inc. also promised to hire an outside consultant to review its hiring policies and provide additional training for its managers.

Investigators with the Labor Department visited three plants owned by JBS and Turkey Valley Farms in Nebraska and Minnesota this fall and found 31 underage workers as young as 13.

Since this lawsuit was filed last month, additional underage workers have been identified, including at two additional plants: the Greater Omaha Packing Co. beef plant in Omaha, Nebraska, and a George’s Inc. poultry plant in Springdale, Arkansas.

Investigators also searched a Tyson Foods plant in Sedalia, Missouri, but the Labor Department hasn't identified any minors working there yet. Thousands of pages of records from other plants are also being reviewed to determine if any additional minors are working there.

At the plants where underage workers have been identified so far, investigators are comparing local school records with Packers Sanitation Services records to identify workers younger than 18.

The company employs some 17,000 people working at more than 700 locations nationwide, making it one of the largest firms out there that cleans food processing plants.

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