Federal investigators discovered 11 youngsters working a “dangerous” midnight shift at a meat processing plant in Iowa, leading to a $171,000 fine for the cleaning business.
The minors were discovered working for the sanitation company Qvest LLC at the Seaboard Triumph Foods pork facility in Sioux City, Iowa, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The kids were hired to “use corrosive cleaners to clean head splitters, jaw pullers, bandsaws, neck clippers and other equipment at the Seaboard Triumph Foods facility from at least September 2019 through September 2023,” according to the statement.
Anyone under the age of 18 is not allowed to work in the meat processing industry in the United States. In the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, Qvest was ordered to pay the fee and refrain from “oppressive child labor,” according to a court document.
A request for comment from Oklahoma-based Qvest was not immediately answered.
According to a written response provided to NBC News, Seaboard Triumph Foods denied any wrongdoing, stated that it does not condone the employment of child labor by any vendor, and “had no evidence that under individuals accessed the plant.” It also mentioned that it hasn’t used Qvest’s services in more than a year.
Additionally, Qvest needs to set up a procedure for whistleblowers to report the unlawful hiring of minors, including a toll-free hotline, and engage a third-party company to assess its policy on underage employment within ninety days.
In May, Fayette Janitorial Services LLC agreed to pay about $650,000 for utilizing over two dozen minors at the Siox City, Iowa business and at a Perdue Farms facility in Virginia. This is the second time a contractor has been found to be using children at the same facility.
Following the May probe, Seaboard and Perdue Farms both terminated their contracts with Fayette, which stated in May that it no longer employs minors.
These results demonstrate the history of children working unlawfully at Seaboard Triumph Foods’ Sioux City factory from at least September 2019. According to Wage and Hour Midwest Regional Administrator Michael Lazzeri, children were still engaged in hazardous jobs at this site even after sanitation contractors were switched.
The Wage and Hour Division discovered labor violations involving over 4,000 minors in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the government. These breaches were discovered in 736 investigations and resulted in fines of over $15 million, an 89% increase over the previous year.
Businesses were being “victimized” by fraudulent workers acquiring positions with false documents, according to a statement from Paul DeCamp, the former chief of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and current counsel for Seaboard Triumph.
“This situation underscores the problems facing employers throughout the country: individuals, including minors, obtaining jobs through their use of fraudulent identification documents, which are sophisticated enough to fool even the federal government s E-Verify system,” he stated.
Children have been employed in slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities, according to a year-long NBC News investigation investigating juvenile employment in slaughterhouses. The series told the tale of Duvan P. Rez, a 16-year-old who secured a job using a 32-year-old man’s ID and died after becoming stuck in machinery.
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