Cleaning service settles with U.S. Department of Labor for $650K after allegedly using underage workers

The U.S. Department of Labor and Fayette Janitorial Service LLC have agreed on a $650,000 settlement after it was found that the sanitation company illegally hired about two dozen children to work at meat processing facilities in Iowa and Virginia, reports the Associated Press.

Fayette Janitorial Service also can no longer employ minors. According to U.S. law, people younger than 18 cannot work in meat processing plants due to the dangers.

The U.S. Department of Labor said 15 underage employees worked at Perdue Farms in Accomac, Va., and as many as nine were on-site at Seaboard Triumph Foods in Sioux City, Iowa. Both plants said they no longer work with Fayette Janitorial Service.

Duties of the young workers included sanitizing equipment like head spitters, jaw pullers, and meat bandsaws.

At the plant in Virginia, one minor was severely injured while cleaning the drumstick packing line belt.

Fayette Janitorial Service now must hire a third-party consultant for the next three years to make sure the cleaning company is following labor laws.