The U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court to issue a nationwide temporary restraining order and injunction against Fayette Janitorial Service to stop the Tennessee-based company from illegally employing children while the department continues investigations into the company’s labor practices. The company provides contract sanitation and cleaning services for meat and poultry processing facilities in approximately 30 states and employs more than 600 workers.
The request for a restraining order was prompted by investigations that found Fayette employed minors to clean and sanitize spaces and equipment during overnight shifts to fulfill sanitation contracts at a Perdue Farms plant in Accomac, Va., and at Seaboard Triumph Foods in Sioux City, Iowa. The Fair Labor Standards Act bans children younger than age 18 from working in dangerous occupations, including most jobs in meat and poultry slaughtering, processing, rendering, and packing establishments.
In its filing, the department alleges that Fayette employed 15 children, hired as young as 13 years old, in Virginia and at least nine children in Iowa on its overnight sanitation shifts. Minors were used to clean dangerous kill floor equipment such as head splitters, jaw pullers, meat bandsaws, and neck clippers. At least one 14-year-old at the Virginia facility suffered severe injuries while employed by Fayette.
A spokesperson for Fayette told the Associated Press in an email that the company is fully cooperating with the investigation. Further, the Fayette says it has made policy and staffing changes, including hiring a new CEO and using third-party legal representation for vetting potential employees. “Fayette has always had a zero-tolerance policy for minor labor in the workforce, and we have continued to work diligently to ensure that something like this cannot occur,” the statement read.
The allegations come after an April 2023 letter from USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack to members of the meat and poultry industry, asking companies to take precautionary steps to deter illegal child labor in their supply chains.
The Department of Labor says its investigations into Fayette are ongoing.
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