The U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday filed for a restraining order against a cleaning service in Tennessee, accusing it of forcing children to work in dangerous conditions.
Fayette Caretaker LLC employed 15 children to work at a Perdue Farms poultry plant in Virginia and at least another nine people at a Seaboard Triumph Foods pork processing plant in Iowa. It is said that according to For submission to court. The department asked the U.S. District Court for Northern Iowa to grant a temporary restraining order to prevent the company from “continuing to engage in oppressive child labor.” (Related: Big companies are trying to clean up their practices after reports of rampant child migrant labor)
“Employing children in hazardous occupations is a serious violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and should never occur,” said Seema Nanda, an attorney with the Labor Department. press release. “The Department of Labor continues to utilize all available legal resources to protect workers and eliminate child labor violations. We continue to work with other federal agencies to combat child labor exploitation across the country. We are working hard.”
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – JUNE 22: A Honduran woman and her family cry as they wait along a border bridge on June 22, 2018, after being denied entry to Brownsville, Texas, which relies on daily crossings into and out of Mexico. child. Texas. (Photo by Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
of Fair Labor Standards Act According to court filings, employers are prohibited from allowing children under 18 to work in hazardous conditions, and the department said an investigation found the company repeatedly put children at risk. claims.
The children worked night sanitation shifts and were required to “clean dangerous kill floor equipment such as head splitters, jaw pullers, meat band saws, and neck clippers,” according to a press release. The girlfriend of one of the children at the Virginia factory suffered severe injuries when machinery tore off her child's arm, requiring multiple surgeries, six months of physical therapy, and more than a month of missing school.
The department also launched investigations into multiple companies in 2023 following reports that the companies were using migrant children to work in dangerous jobs. Several of these companies, including McDonald's, Whole Foods, and Costco, announced in February that they were conducting full audits to prevent the use of child labor in their facilities.
Fayette Janitorial LLC and the station did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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