Company pays $1.5 million for breaking child labor laws in 8 states, Labor Department says

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Labor on Friday announced more than $1M in fines paid by a Wisconsin-based food sanitation company that violated child labor laws in eight states.

Packers Sanitation Services Inc. has paid $1.5 million in civil penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the company violated child labor laws.

The Department of Labor said in a statement Friday that the company employed at least 102 children from 13-17 years old "in hazardous occupations and had them working overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states."

"The child labor violations in this case were systemic and reached across eight states, and clearly indicate a corporate-wide failure by Packers Sanitation Services at all levels," said Principal Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division Jessica Looman in a statement. "These children should never have been employed in meat packing plants and this can only happen when employers do not take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place."

The Labor Department in November alleged "oppressive child labor" practices at Packers.

In December the U.S. District Court of Nebraska entered a civil consent order and judgment in which Packers Sanitation Services agreed to comply with child labor laws nationwide. Under that order, the employer agreed to take significant steps to make sure child labor laws are obeyed in the future.

According to the Department of Labor, Packers Sanitation Services violated child labor laws in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas.

In a separate child labor-law case announced Friday, the Department of Labor said Jacksonville Trampoline Park in Florida paid $43,000 in civil penalties for child labor law violations.

The indoor adventure park employed 55 employees younger than 16 in violation of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act that govern how late minors can work, according to the Labor Department.