ACCOMAC, VA - The US Department of Labor has asked a federal court to issue a restraining order and injunction against a Tennessee-based janitorial company to halt the alleged illegal employment of minors to clean a Perdue Farms facility in Accomack County.
According to the Department of Labor, Fayette Industrial has employed children to sanitize poultry and meat slaughtering and processing areas and equipment to fulfill contracts at Perdue Farms in Accomac, Virginia and Seaboard Triumph Foods in Sioux City, Iowa.
The department claims Fayette hired 15 children, some as young as 13, in Accomack County to fill overnight sanitation shifts from January 2021 through October 2023. The children were made to clean dangerous equipment, the Department of Labor says, and at least one 14-year-old suffered severe injuries.
Court documents filed by the Department of Labor claim Fayette informed Perdue the 14-year-old was injured on February 4th, 2022 and was hospitalized until February 16th, 2022. Despite being notified in May 2022 that the injured employee was a minor, Fayette continued to employ the child until June 12th, 2022, according to the injunction request filing.
“The employment of children in hazardous occupations is an egregious violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act that should never occur,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “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.”
Fayette Janitorial Service LLC, operating as Fayette Industrial, is based in Somerville, Tennessee and provides sanitation services for meat and poultry facilities in about 30 states, according to the Department of Labor. The Department says their investigation is ongoing.
The injunction filed this week asks the federal court to permanently restrain Fayette from violating child labor laws and reimburse the DOL for the costs of their formal filing.
In a statement to WBOC, a Perdue spokesperson says the company severed ties with Fayette Janitorial Services prior to this week's court filing.
"Underage labor has no place in our business or our industry," the company said. "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."
