Dive Brief:
- Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay $2 million to settle claims alleging the pork company violated Minnesota’s child labor laws by employing at least 11 underage workers at a meat processing plant.
- The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) said it identified kids between the ages of 14 and 17 working at a St. James plant, with most working after 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on school nights. The findings were part of a two-year audit from April 2021 to April 2023.
- Smithfield said in a statement Thursday it denies knowingly hiring anyone under the age of 18 to work at its St. James location and admits no liability. The company agreed to the settlement “in the interest of preventing the distraction of prolonged litigation.”
Dive Insight:
Enforcement agencies have cracked down on child labor laws in recent years, conducting audits at a number of manufacturing facilities with dangerous or difficult jobs to fill.
During its investigation, the DLI found at least 11 minors had performed “hazardous work for Smithfield,” including working near unsafe chemicals and substances. Children also operated meat grinders, slicers and other power-driven machinery.
“It is unacceptable for a company to employ minor children to perform hazardous work late at night,” DLI Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach said in a statement. “Combatting unlawful child labor in Minnesota is a priority for DLI and it will continue to devote resources to addressing and resolving these violations.”
Smithfield has policies in place to prevent itself and suppliers, including third-party sanitation service providers, from employing underage workers. The pork company said it screens every hire through E-Verify, a federal system that validates employment eligibility based on Homeland Security and Social Security records.
However, the system is not perfect. Smithfield said “each of the 11 alleged underage individuals passed the E-Verify system using false identification.”
Although Smithfield has contested the DLI’s claims that it knowingly hired underage workers, the company said it “wholeheartedly agree[s] that individuals under the age of 18 have no place working in meatpacking and processing facilities.”
Child labor violations have roiled the meatpacking industry as state and federal agencies crack down on enforcement. Last year, two sanitation companies that contracted with some of the nation’s largest meatpackers had been found to illegally employ dozens of children at slaughterhouses and meatpacking facilities owned by JBS and Perdue Farms.
Smithfield’s $2 million penalty is the largest Minnesota’s DLI has recovered in a child labor enforcement action. As part of the agreement, the company must also conduct industry outreach related to child labor compliance, among other steps to ensure these violations do not happen again.
Across industries, the U.S. Department of Labor has fined companies more than $15 million for violating child labor laws in fiscal year 2024. That is a record high in terms of settlements paid and nearly double what the agency collected a year ago.