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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202-219-8211
A poultry processing plant in Maryland has been assessed a civil money
penalty of $14,100 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division for
child labor violations, including illegally using minors to debone chicken.
Chestertown Foods, Inc., a N.J. company operating a poultry processing
plant in Chestertown, Md., was cited for employing nine minors, ages 13-15, to
debone and help process fresh chicken from various suppliers throughout the
Eastern United States.
"It is simply unacceptable for children to work under such potentially
hazardous conditions, such as wielding knives," said Secretary of Labor Alexis
M. Herman. "We are determined to protect young, vulnerable workers and assure
compliance with our child labor laws."
The firm also was cited and assessed penalties for shipping "hot goods,"
products shipped across state lines that were produced in an establishment
where child labor violations have occurred in the past 30 days.
Some of the minors worked as many as 40 hours a week during the school
year or before 7:00 a.m. Under federal law, the minimum age of employment is
14, except in agriculture. Minors 14 and 15 years of age cannot work in
dangerous occupations, such as manufacturing and processing, and may not work
more than a certain number of hours in a day or week (three hours on a school
day or 18 hours a week during a school week, and 8 hours on a non-school day or
40 hours a week in a non-school week). In addition, minors may not work before
7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., except in the summertime.
Chestertown Foods was cited for a total of 24 child labor violations.
Since the investigation, all the minors have been terminated and the company
has agreed to comply in the future.
The company has filed an exception to the assessment of the civil money
penalty and asked for a hearing before a Department of Labor administrative law
judge.
Consistent with its focus on improving compliance in low-wage
industries, the department recently conducted a compliance survey to determine
the level of compliance with workplace laws in the poultry process industry.
The results of this survey will be announced in early 1998.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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