U.S. food sanitation company accused of employing at least 31 children: NBC News

The screenshot taken from the website of NBC News on Nov. 14, 2022 shows the title and picture of its report "Food sanitation company accused of employing at least 31 children on graveyard shifts in slaughterhouses." (Xinhua)

The company may also employ more kids under similar conditions at 400 other sites across the country.

NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- A leading sanitation company in the United States is accused of employing dozens of children to clean the killing floors of slaughterhouses during graveyard shifts, CNBC reported last week, citing the U.S. Department of Labor.

Packers Sanitation Services, Inc., a company contracted to work at slaughterhouses and meatpacking facilities, allegedly employed at least 31 kids, one as young as 13, to work overnight cleaning shifts at three facilities in Nebraska and Minnesota, court documents were quoted as saying.

Those practices would violate the Fair Labor Standards Act, which prohibits "oppressive child labor" and minors from working in any kind of hazardous employment, according to the complaint.

The Department of Labor's Child Labor Regulations designates many roles in slaughterhouse and meatpacking facilities as hazardous for minors, the report said.

Initial evidence indicates the company may also employ more kids under similar conditions at 400 other sites across the country, in addition to the 31 minors employed at three sites that investigators already confirmed, according to the complaint.