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.
Teacher Appreciation Week: Top school's staff go 'beyond the textbook'
OJ Simpson's time in Hollywood: A look back at The Naked Gun star's hit movie career
Neymar jokes about his contribution to Al
Ai Weiwei launches new exhibit, says still trying to understand studio demolitions
Bernie Sanders campaigns for Biden while raising concerns about Gaza
Kris Jenner, 68, looks chic in D&G dress for 'date night' with longtime boyfriend Corey Gamble, 43
Italian press revels in Atalanta's shock 3
Taylor Swift 'turned down $9MILLION offer to perform private concert in the United Arab Emirates'
John Swinney is crowned as SNP leader
Brittany Mahomes drastically changes her signature blonde locks
NBC will stick with dual announcers and analysts for the US Open
Venezuelan beauty queen Wilevis Brito, 24, dies following surgery on jaw and lip