Labor Department fines Iowa meat plant cleaners for violating child labor law

[JACK AYLMER]

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a $171,000 fine to a cleaning company that employed children to do, quote, “dangerous” work on an overnight shift at an Iowa meat plant.

The company Qvest, Inc., had 11 children working to clean machines at the plant run by Seaboard Triumph Foods. 

The children had to use corrosive chemicals to clean sharp equipment including head splitters, jaw pullers, and neck clippers, according to a Labor Department investigation. The department says the violations occurred between at least September 2019 and September 2023.

It’s the second time this year the Labor Department has issued a fine to a cleaning company working in the same Iowa plant.

In May, Fayette Janitorial Service had to pay nearly $650,000 for employing nine children in violation of labor laws. Some of the children Fayette hired were the ones previously employed by Qvest.

The regional administrator of the Labor Department’s wage and hour division said the latest fine and judgment illustrate “…Seaboard Triumph Foods’ history of children working illegally in their Sioux City facility since at least September 2019. Despite changing sanitation contractors, children continued to work in dangerous occupations at this facility.”

The Labor Department says it has concluded over 700 investigations affecting more than 4,000 children this year. The Department has issued over $15 million in fines, an 89 percent increase over last year.

For Straight Arrow News, I’m Jack Aylmer.

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