ACCOMAC, Va. — A contractor company has been accused of illegally hiring children to clean the Perdue Farms plant on the Eastern Shore during the overnight hours.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) said in a news release it asked a federal court to issue a nationwide temporary restraining order and injunction against Fayette Janitorial Service LLC, operating under the name Fayette Industrial.
According to the DOL, Fayette Industrial employed 15 children, hired as young as 13, to work the overnight sanitation shifts at the Perdue plant in Accomac to fulfill sanitation contracts. A spokesperson for the department said this happened from January 2021 through October 2023.
"Minors were used to clean dangerous kill floor equipment such as head splitters, jaw pullers, meat bandsaws, and neck clippers," the DOL wrote in a news release. "At least one 14-year-old at the Virginia facility suffered severe injuries while employed by Fayette."
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, people under 18 are banned from working in dangerous occupations. According to the DOL, these include most jobs in meat and poultry slaughtering, processing, rendering and packing facilities.
“The employment of children in hazardous occupations is an egregious violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act that should never occur,” Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda wrote. “The Department of Labor continues to use every available legal resource to protect workers and end child labor violations. We are working diligently with other federal agencies to combat child labor exploitation nationwide.”
The DOL's court request seeks to stop Fayette Industrial from illegally employing children while investigations of the company's labor practices continue. In a statement to 13News Now, Perdue Farms said its contract with Fayette Janitorial Services was terminated before the DOL's court filing.
"Underage labor has no place in our business or our industry," the statement read. "Perdue has strong safeguards in place to ensure that all associates are legally eligible to work in our facilities—and we expect the same of our vendors."