Packers Sanitation Services Inc. used minors to use caustic chemicals to clean saw blades, and other high-risk equipment at 13 meat processing facilities in 8 states.
Keller, Wisconsin One of the nation’s largest food safety sanitation providers has paid $1.5 million in civil financial penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the company employed at least 102 children — ages 13 to 17 — in hazardous occupations and had them work shifts. at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states.
The employer paid civil monetary penalties as a result of the department’s investigation of Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD, headquartered in Keeler, Wisconsin. The department found that the children were working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat-processing equipment including backsaws, meat saws and split-heads. Investigators learned that at least three minors were injured while working at PSSI.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the department assessed $15,138 for each minor employee hired in violation of the law. The amount is the maximum civil monetary penalty allowed by federal law.
The department has launched an investigation into Packers Sanitation Services Inc. On August 2024, and on November 9, 2024, the attorney’s office filed a complaint in the US District Court in Nebraska based on evidence that the company — which provides cleaning services under contract to some of the nation’s largest meat and poultry producers — employed at least 31 children, Ages 13 to 17, in hazardous occupations cleaning hazardous powered equipment during night shifts at JBS USA plants in Grand Island, Nebraska, and Worthington, Minnesota, and at Turkey Valley Farms in Marshall, Minnesota. U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard responded by issuing a temporary restraining order on November 10, 2024, barring the company and its employees from child labor violations.
On December 6, 2024, the US District Court of Nebraska issued a consent order and judgment, in which the employer agreed to comply with the provisions of the FLSA Child Labor Act in all of its operations nationwide, and to take significant steps to ensure future compliance with the law, including hiring an outside compliance specialist .
On February 16, 2023, PSSI paid civil financial penalties of $1.5 million.
“The child labor abuses in this case were systemic and reached across eight states, and clearly indicate a company-wide failure by Packers Sanitation Services at all levels,” explained Jessica Lohmann, principal vice president of Wage and Hour Division. “These children should never have been employed in meatpacking plants, and this can only happen when employers don’t take responsibility for preventing child labor abuses from happening in the first place.”
“Our investigation found that Packers Sanitation Services systems recognized some young workers as minors, but the company ignored those flags. When the wage and hour department arrived with warrants, the adults — who recruited, hired, and supervised these children — attempted to obstruct our efforts to investigate their employment practices, said Michael Lazzeri, regional director of hourly and wages in Chicago.
The Division’s investigation included the following sites:
Name of processor
|
City
|
State
|
Affected minors
|
Penalties Assessed
|
George’s Inc.
|
Batesville
|
AR
|
4
|
$60,552
|
Tyson Food Inc.
|
Green Forest
|
AR
|
6
|
$90,828
|
JBS Foods
|
Greeley
|
CO
|
4
|
$60,552
|
Maple Leaf Farms Inc.
|
Milford
|
IN
|
2
|
$30,276
|
Cargill Inc.
|
Dodge City
|
KS
|
26
|
$393,588
|
Turkey Valley Farms
|
Marshall
|
MN
|
2
|
$30,276
|
Buckhead Meat of Minnesota
|
St. Cloud
|
MN
|
1
|
$15,138
|
JBS Foods
|
Worthington
|
MN
|
22
|
$333,036
|
Gibbon Packing Co.
|
Gibbon
|
NE
|
1
|
$15,138
|
JBS Foods
|
Grand Island
|
NE
|
27
|
$408,726
|
Greater Omaha Packing Co. Inc
|
Omaha
|
NE
|
5
|
$75,690
|
Tyson Food Inc.
|
Goodlettsville
|
TN
|
1
|
$15,138
|
Cargill Inc.
|
Fiona
|
TX
|
1
|
$15,138
|
Total penalties paid by PSSI
|
|
|
|
$1,544,076
|
“The Ministry of Labor has made it categorically clear that violations of child labor laws will not be tolerated,” said labor lawyer Seema Nanda. No child should be subject to the conditions in this investigation. The courts have upheld the department’s legitimate authority to enforce federal court-approved search warrants and have forced this employer to change its employment practices to ensure compliance with the law. Let this case be a powerful reminder that all workers in the United States are entitled to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act and that an employer who violates wage laws will be held accountable.”
Learn more about the wages and hours department.
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