The US Department of Labor recently discovered children working at a Mar-Jac Poultry slaughterhouse in Alabama, less than a year after a teen worker was killed at a company facility in Mississippi. In a civil complaint filed in May, the DOL alleged that children were working on the kill floor deboning poultry and cutting carcasses at the facility for months. Mar-Jac operates facilities in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, and the recent allegation follows the incident last year in Mississippi. The company primarily sells to wholesale distributors and national fast food establishments, but did not disclose which fast food companies it supplies.
The DOL spokesperson confirmed that there are multiple ongoing investigations of Mar-Jac plants in Alabama and Mississippi. Federal labor law prohibits children from certain jobs in slaughterhouses and meat packaging plants due to hazardous conditions. The May complaint stated that Mar-Jac had employed several minors under the age of 18 in hazardous occupations on the kill floor, potentially resulting in products tainted by child labor, making them “hot goods” under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The complaint also alleged that Mar-Jac had been unjustly enriched by shipping these goods in violation of labor law.
Mar-Jac responded to the allegations by telling ABC News that the minors were hired with documents that showed they were over 18 years of age and that the company expects to prevail in the matter and is committed to complying with relevant laws. The recent allegations come after a 16-year-old worker was killed in an accident at a Mar-Jac processing plant in Mississippi. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating the incident, and earlier this year, the DOL proposed a fine of $212,646 against the processor. The department is unable to provide further comment on the status of the request due to ongoing investigations.
The Labor Department has been ramping up efforts to combat child labor, especially in meatpacking facilities. In February 2023, the Department of Labor and Health and Human Services announced increased efforts to fight child labor after seeing a 69% increase in the illegal employment of children by companies. A janitorial company was recently fined $649,000 for hiring minors as young as 13 to work overnight shifts cleaning slaughterhouses. Fayette Janitorial Service employed at least 24 children for dangerous jobs, leading to the hefty fine. The DOL is actively investigating and cracking down on instances of child labor at various facilities.
