A Los Angeles, California, poultry firm allegedly hired underage teens as young as 14 to debone chicken by using sharp knives, NBC News reported.
When federal investigators showed up to probe similar accusations, the L.A. business, The Exclusive Poultry, then allegedly hid the adolescents in closets and bathrooms, according to NBC News.
The chicken processor agreed to pay $3.8 million to the Department of Labor for a handful of violations, in addition to $200,000 in civil penalties, NBC News reported.
A CA poultry processor and supplier to supermarkets and food distributors has agreed to pay nearly $3.8M after a @WHD_DOL investigation found the company endangered young workers, robbed workers of wages and retaliated by firing workers.
Learn more: https://t.co/RrBv63rxyC
— U.S. Department of Labor (@USDOL) December 4, 2023
“The Exclusive Poultry and owner Tony Bran willfully withheld workers’ hard-earned wages, endangered young workers and retaliated against employees to conceal their wrongdoing,” Jessica Looman, an administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, told the outlet.
The investigators alleged that the minors deboned chicken, worked overtime multiple days a week and did not go to school, NBC reported. It also alleged some of the teen staffers were injured on site. (RELATED: Wisconsin Company Pays $1.5 Million Fine For Putting Children To Work In Meatpacking Plant)
A lawyer representing the company, Anthony McClaren, explained to the outlet that his client did not know that children were hired at the processing plants but reached an agreement with the government “in the best interest of moving forward.”
“These were just allegations and the case was in its infancy. We were just beginning to do our own discovery to understand whether or not these allegations were true,” the lawyer added, NBC noted. (RELATED: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Ben & Jerry’s For Allegedly Using Migrant Child Labor)
The investigation initially kicked off due to allegations in August 2022 of unpaid wages stemming from a complaint from an adult employee, the outlet noted.
“A California federal judge granted the U.S. Department of Labor a preliminary injunction against three poultry processing companies in the state accused of violating child labor laws, failing to pay overtime, intimidating and retaliating against workers, obstructing federal… pic.twitter.com/xS2ebQgz4V
— Crystal Heath DVM (@drcrystalheath) October 25, 2023
As a result of that settlement, the company is now effectively shuttered, McClaren told NBC News.