A US company is fined $650,000 for illegally hiring children to clean meat processing plants

By HANNAH FINGERHUT
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Tennessee-based sanitation company is agreeing to pay more than half a million dollars after a federal investigation found it illegally hired children to clean dangerous meat processing facilities. The U.S. Labor Department on Monday said Fayette Janitorial Service LLC has agreed to nearly $650,000 in civil penalties. It also says a court order mandates that it no longer employs minors. The Labor Department’s February legal filing alleged that Fayette used 15 underage workers at a Perdue Farms plant in Accomac, Virginia, and at least nine at Seaboard Triumph Foods in Sioux City, Iowa. U.S. law prohibits companies from employing people younger than 18 to work in meat processing plants.