Worthington manager solicited fake IDs to hire minors to clean Minnesota slaughterhouses, court papers say

Nov 16, 20220

Courtesy Department of Labor count

An employee of meatpacking janitorial service PSSI cleans at a JBS-owned beef processing facility in Grand Island, Neb., on Oct. 13, 2022. Federal authorities allege PSSI has hired over two dozen children to clean at three slaughterhouses, including two in Minnesota.

Court documents filed in Nebraska reveal that a Worthington, Minn., manager of a sanitation contractor solicited fake identification documents that obscured the age of children illegally hired to clean slaughterhouses in the Midwest.

U.S. Department of Labor prosecutors say that the Kieler, Wis.-based company Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) employed more than 30 minors - including six children in the southwestern Minnesota towns of Worthington and Marshall - to work at two JBS-owned packing facilities and an independent turkey plant.

People younger than 18 can legally work in the United States, but not in slaughterhouses, which are deemed "hazardous" under the Fair Labor Standards Act. During the school year, federal labor law permits minors to work limited hours during the day in other environments, but never overnight shifts.

https://www.startribune.com/worthington-manager-allegedly-solicited-fake-ids-to-hire-minors-to-clean-minnesota-slaughterhouses/600226269/