A Georgia poultry processor will pay $385,000 to settle allegations that it illegally employed children at a facility in Alabama, federal officials announced Monday.
The U.S. Department of Labor said that Mar-Jac Poultry AL LLC will pay civil money penalties and will be barred from “any future child labor violations” under a consent judgment obtained in federal court.
The agency’s Wage and Hour Division had accused Mar-Jac of employing children as young as 13, and that children as young as 14 and 15 were performing prohibited tasks, such as operating forklifts, “deboning and eviscerating” poultry, and working on the kill floor.
Fourteen- and 15-year-old workers were also allowed to work past legal hours at the facility, including many on overnight shifts.
The agency had previously investigated Mar-Jac following the death of a 16-year-old worker at a Mississippi plant in 2023.
“The U.S. Department of Labor will use all enforcement tools available to protect young workers and hold employers accountable if they repeatedly violate workers’ rights,” Juan Coria, the Wage and Hour Division’s regional administrator in Atlanta, said in a statement.
Additional provisions of the settlement, in part, require Mar-Jac to hire a third-party compliance officer for three years, as well as issue an annual report on compliance with child labor laws and train its managers on compliance each quarter.