DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Tennessee-based sanitation company has agreed to pay more than half a million dollars after a federal investigation found it illegally hired at least two dozen children to clean dangerous meat processing facilities in Iowa and Virginia.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday that Fayette Janitorial Service LLC entered into a consent judgment, in which the company agrees to nearly $650,000 in civil penalties and the court-ordered mandate that it no longer employs minors. The February filing indicated federal investigators believed at least four children had still been working at one Iowa slaughterhouse as of Dec. 12.
U.S. law prohibits companies from employing people younger than 18 to work in meat processing plants because of the hazards.
The Labor Department 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. The work included sanitizing dangerous equipment like head splitters, jaw pullers and meat bandsaws in hazardous conditions where animals are killed and rendered.
Oscar salvages point for Cangzhou against Shenzhen in CSL
Katie Holmes sports a chic designer look while enjoying a stroll around New York City
China prepares to launch Tianzhou
Xi Urges Accelerated Efforts to Modernize National Security System, Capacity
Day 4 of the Masters at a glance
Mike Tyson sends warning shot to Jake Paul ahead of their July 20 fight, as 57
Internet drama about lost artifacts touches Chinese netizens
Scenery of Great Wall in Beijing
Pic story of dancing couple in China's Xinjiang
Tourists enjoy boat rides in Pingshan canyon in C China's Hubei
Xi highlights advancement in education