The U.S. Department of Labor is asking a federal court to punish an Alabama chicken processing plant after children were found working at the facility.
The move comes less than a year after a 16-year-old was killed at a Mississippi chicken processing plant owned by the same company.
Duvan Perez, a Mayan native from Guatemala, died on July 14 after becoming trapped in equipment while cleaning at the Hattiesburg poultry processing plant. Federal child labor laws prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from working in a meat processing plant.
OSHA fined Mar-Jac more than $212,000 after finding numerous safety violations, some of which are considered “serious.” In addition, Perez’s mother, Edilma Perez Ramirez, is seeking unspecified damages in a wrongful death lawsuit against the company.
DOL officials say any products originating from Alabama-based Mar-Jac Poultry up to 30 days after the discovery should be considered “hot products,” making it illegal for the company to profit from those products.
“On May 1, 2024, investigators from the Wage and Hour Division, United States Department of Labor (“WHD”), discovered oppressive child labor at Defendant’s poultry processing facility, namely children working on the slaughter floor to debone poultry and cut carcasses , during a Civil Search Warrant dated May 1, 2024,” the complaint states. “The children had been working at the facility for months and Defendant continuously removed property from the facility throughout, including after the search warrant, and over WHD’s objection.”
According to court documents, at least five children under the age of 18 were found “working on the killing floor, hanging live chickens on hooks for slaughter and cutting meat from the carcasses, which is a prohibited dangerous activity for minors.”
Mar-Jac officials oppose the move, saying they would have to lay off more than 1,000 workers if the plant is temporarily closed. The company said if it were to close for 30 days it would have “seismic economic impacts on the community.”
However, the government claims the company is trying to avoid its responsibility to protect children by claiming it would have a major impact.
Mar-Jac’s position “is a misguided attempt to persuade this Court to allow Defendant to disregard the inherent dangers of oppressive child labor and his obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” the DOL said in its reply to Mar-Jac.
The company said Department of Labor Investigators claimed they found three underage employees and notified the company that others had been found after the initial search. Mar-Jac officials said the alleged minors showed proof that they were over 17 and legally allowed to work in the United States. The company says it does not hire anyone under the age of 18.
In addition to denying that they knowingly hired underage workers, Mar-Jac officials said those the government claimed were underage did not work on the slaughter floor but worked with poultry in other parts of the facility, which is not illegal under federal child labor laws.
“None of these employees worked on the slaughter floor and none engaged in the hanging (or killing) of live birds,” Mar-Jac officials said in their response to the government’s claims.
A federal judge ordered the Department of Labor to provide more information about the Alabama case before deciding whether to issue the “hot goods” measure.
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This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Mar-Jac Poultry charged after underage workers found at Alabama plant
