Perdue Farms and JBS, two of the nation's largest meatpackers, will pay a combined $8 million after the Department of Labor found the companies relied on migrant children to work in their slaughterhouses for years.
The deals, announced this week, are part of a wave of child labor settlements made in the final days of the Biden administration, which has cracked down on the practice.
It's rare for major brands to come under federal scrutiny for child labor. Many food processing and manufacturing companies outsource cleaning and other tasks to third-party staffing agencies, which technically hire the workers and protect companies from any violations.
Federal investigators found that children were working at a Perdue factory on Virginia's eastern coast as early as 2020. The children, who were hired by an employment agency, worked late into the evening performing dangerous tasks with electric knives and hot sealing tools.
Perdue agreed to pay $4 million in restitution to the children and to organizations including Kids in Need of Defense, a national nonprofit that provides lawyers to young migrants who come to the country alone. Perdue, one of the nation's largest poultry processors, also must pay a $150,000 civil penalty.
In a statement, Perdue said it strongly disagrees that it should be held liable for child labor violations but wants to avoid a protracted dispute with the Labor Department.
JBS, the world's largest meat processor, agreed to pay $4 million after investigators discovered that children as young as 13 were working overnight cleaning shifts at its slaughterhouses in Colorado, Minnesota and Nebraska, among others. The children came mainly from Central America and were hired through an external plumbing company. They worked with powerful chemicals – sometimes ending up at school with burns – and washed dangerous tools, including head splitters.
The company said the money would be managed by KIND and used to help children with scholarships, stipends, English lessons and vocational training.
JBS said in a statement that it had stopped using employment agencies to fill its sanitation services, and hoped the money would “provide valuable resources” to children in need.
On Thursday, the Department of Labor said it had fined a sanitation company, QSI, $400,000 for hiring children to clean slaughterhouses in eight states, including a Tyson Foods plant in Virginia. A separate child labor investigation into Tyson remains open. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal law prohibits minors from doing any work in slaughterhouses due to the high risk of injury. But in recent years, thousands of Mexican and Central American children have come to the United States alone and ended up in grueling jobs in many industries, The New York Times reported in a series of articles.
In response to The Times' reporting, the White House announced in early 2023 that it would focus on rooting out violations and holding companies accountable, even if they used outside contractors. Last year, federal investigators found that more than 4,000 children were working in violation of child labor laws.
Federal fines for child labor remain capped at $15,000, despite efforts to increase them.
Labor Department officials said they hoped the settlements would send a lasting message to companies that use staffing agencies.
“We've seen far too many companies and employers over-resource workers in any form,” said Seema Nanda, the department's chief legal officer. “Our work focuses on the fact that you can't be blind to exploitation to get the job done.”
Earlier this month, Hearthside Food Solutions, which produces and packages food for some of the nation's best-known brands, agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a child labor investigation with the Illinois Department of Labor and the attorney general.
The state investigation was launched after The Times discovered migrant children working at night around dangerous machinery on household products including Cheerios and Chewy Bars.
Up to half of the money will go to children who worked in Hearthside factories when they were under 16. On Thursday, the company said in a statement that it denied any liability or wrongdoing and that it had cut ties with the agencies that hired children. .
Hearthside filed for bankruptcy in November.
