Another Tennessee Company Caught Employing Children In Violation Of Federal Law
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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Another Tennessee company has been caught employing children in violation of child labor laws.
Fayette Janitorial Services, LLC, a sanitation company based in Somerville, will have to pay civil penalties following a judgment by a federal court for having children employed to do hazardous tasks in two facilities responsible for slaughtering and meatpacking.
At least 24 children – some as young as 13 – were hired to clean the two separate facilities operated by Seaboard Triumph Foods LLC in Sioux City, Iowa, and Perdue Farms in Accomac, Virginia, during overnight shifts. Both Seaboard and Perdue have since terminated their contracts with the janitorial company.
Fayette, who employs over 600 people in 30 states in the United States, has been ordered to pay nearly $650 thousand in penalties and must hire a third party to review their policies and implement prevention measures with regard to future hires over the next 3 years at a minimum.
Children younger than 18-years of age are banned from working in facilities where hazardous tasks are common under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Federal investigators for the Department of Labor witnessed children trying to hide their faces before their overnight shift at the Iowa facility. Some carried obviously childish school backpacks.
The department learned that children were using corrosive cleaners to clean dangerous floor equipment and at least one child in Virginia suffered injuries that were severe in nature. The machines being cleaned included those used to split the heads of slaughtered animals and bandsaws that cut meat.
U.S. Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said in a release, “The employment of children in hazardous occupations is an egregious violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act that should never occur.”
While willingly cooperating with the federal investigation, Fayette said that the situation arose because of fraudulent identification documents that misrepresented the age of the young people hired.
The Department of Labor reports that almost 6 thousand children were found to be employed in violation of federal law throughout the country during the past fiscal year including Tyson Foods in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
Minors must be at least 14-years-old to work in non-agricultural settings according the the Department of Labor and cannot work before 7 am or after 7pm. The Fair Labor Standards Act also restricts the number of hours that children under 16 can work and bans minors who are 18 or younger from doing dangerous jobs.
Employers in Tennessee must also abide by the Tennessee Child Labor Act which protects the health and well-being of minors and safeguards their educational opportunities.
For those who are 14 or 15-years-old, working hours during the school year can be no more than 3 hours a day, with a maximum of 18 hours per week.
During school breaks, this is expanded to 8 hours maximum a day – no earlier than 6 am and no later than 9 pm – up to 40 hours a week. For 16 and 17-year-olds there are restrictions on hours that are worked preceding a school day, the latest being 10 pm and earliest 6 am. Mandatory meal periods or breaks must also be provided for youth scheduled to work 6 hours in a row.
Earlier this year, Tuff Torq Corporation in Morristown was fined after an investigation found that the company had employed immigrant children as young as 14-years-old to operate machinery and work late into the night.
Tuff Torq’s owner, Yanmar Group based out of Japan, claimed that the minors used fake IDs and names and that they were hired through a temporary workforce staffing agency.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
Perhaps the consequences should be increased.
$350 million per violation should be fine
Are all of these children illegal aliens? If they are employing Illegal aliens then these companies are involved with more then just employing under age children. These companies are breaking federal law of aiding/abetting and harboring illegal aliens into our country.
Yes you are right and what is the state doing about it????
There are 20 million ILLEGAL Aliens to pay under the table instead of children and might get the FEDS to help pay!!!!
“Fayette Janitorial Services, LLC, a sanitation company based in Somerville, will have to pay civil penalties following a judgment by a federal court for having children employed to do hazardous tasks in two facilities responsible for slaughtering and meatpacking.”
If any are illegal it would be Fayette JS LLC, will be penalized, state law requires the loss of their business license.
Unless protected by political allies.
It amazes me how low people will go for the almighty dollar. How many children are being exposed to all of these activities?
God will punish those who are doing this to these children.
Violations of Tennessee state child labor law (TN Code § 50-5-103 (2021)) involving children under 14 years of age are felonies, period. That means jail time.
And, while a federal fine of $650,000 seems like a lot of money, there were 24 children involved! That’s $27,000 per child. On the other hand, Tennessee law allows a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per day per child. The article didn’t say how many violations occurred, so its possible that the feds gave the perps a break.
Furthermore, I doubt that federal investigators uncovered these violations, but the article didn’t provide an explanation of how the feds became involved. They’re not that smart. It’s seems written as a puff piece to give U.S. Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda some undeserved kudos.
Tennessee has strong child labor laws; we don’t need the feds involved in our local matters, but we must enforce our state child labor laws to maintain our independence.