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    Children Worked Dangerous Shifts at Iowa Slaughterhouse, Inquiry Finds

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    Qvest Sanitation was ordered to pay nearly $172,000 after the Labor Department found it had employed 11 children to clean equipment on overnight shifts at a pork processing plant in Sioux City, Iowa.An Oklahoma-based cleaning company has been fined nearly $172,000 after federal investigators found that it had hired nearly a dozen children to work dangerous overnight shifts at an Iowa slaughterhouse.The 11 children were hired by Qvest Sanitation of Guymon, Okla., to work at a pork processing plant in Sioux City, Iowa, operated by Seaboard Triumph Foods, the Labor Department said. The children used corrosive cleaners to wash equipment, including head splitters, jaw pullers, band saws and neck clippers, the department said last week.The department did not say how old the children were when they were working in the plant.Adam Greer, Qvest’s vice president of operations, said in a statement that the company had not been able to confirm the allegations because the Labor Department “has declined to provide us with any names or specific information related to the alleged violations.”“In spite of this, Qvest has not only fully cooperated with the Department of Labor but is and has been committed to strengthening our onboarding process,” he said.It was the second time this year that a company that had been hired to clean the Seaboard Triumph Foods plant in Sioux City had been the target of enforcement action by the Labor Department.In May, a Tennessee-based company, Fayette Janitorial Service, was ordered to pay $649,000 in civil penalties after an investigation found that it had hired at least two dozen children as young as 13 to work overnight shifts cleaning equipment at Seaboard’s Sioux City plant and a Perdue Farms plant on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Nine of those children worked at the Seaboard plant, the Labor Department said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Ex-Dancer Accuses Shen Yun of Forced Labor and Trafficking in Lawsuit

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      The former performer, who was recruited to join Shen Yun at age 13, said the prominent dance group coerced children into making money for it.A former dancer for Shen Yun Performing Arts, the prominent music and dance group operated by the Falun Gong religious movement, filed a lawsuit on Monday, accusing its leaders of trafficking vulnerable children to work for little to no pay.The lawsuit, brought in Federal District Court in Manhattan, describes Shen Yun as a “forced labor enterprise” that has exploited underage dancers through threats and public shaming to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.Shen Yun instills obedience in its dancers through a wide range of tactics, the lawsuit alleges, including by confiscating their passports, cutting them off from outside media, denouncing them as Chinese government spies if they questioned the group’s practices and subjecting rule-breakers to public critique sessions.The former dancer who filed the lawsuit, Chang Chun-Ko, said she was recruited from Taiwan to join Shen Yun as a dancer at age 13, in 2009. She performed with the group until she left in 2020, when she was 24.Ms. Chang sued under a federal law that allows victims of forced labor to bring lawsuits against their traffickers.The lawsuit comes three months after The New York Times revealed that Shen Yun’s performers had been working in abusive conditions for years. Ms. Chang, now 28, was among the former performers and instructors quoted in the article.The New York State Department of Labor has opened an inquiry into the company’s labor practices, including its use of child performers, The Times reported last week.The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages. Ms. Chang is the only named plaintiff, but she is seeking to certify the lawsuit as a class action.Shen Yun, which performed more than 800 times on five continents in its most recent tour, puts on a two-hour dance and music show that spreads the message of Falun Gong, a religious movement that is banned in China and has been persecuted by the Chinese government.Representatives of Shen Yun and Falun Gong did not immediately provide a comment on Monday. They have previously denied violating any laws and said labor laws did not apply to their underage performers because they are students who tour with Shen Yun as a learning opportunity, not employees. Every student participates in Shen Yun voluntarily, they have said.“Sure, some people leave because it’s not for them, and that’s perfectly fine,” Shen Yun’s representatives said in a recent statement. “But the vast majority of students will tell you this is their dream come true, and the parents rave about the positive changes in their children.”This is a developing story and will be updated. More

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      in US Politics

      Fines for child labor violations would increase under new Democratic bill

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      Democrats introduced a bill Friday proposing increased penalties for employers found guilty of child labor violations and toughening rules around minimum wage, overtime violations and breaches of health and safety rules.The Let’s Protect Workers act would also set new penalties for retaliating against workers who exercise their right to take family and medical leave, toughen oversight of workplace injury records, improve mine safety and ensure funding for workers affected by black lung.The bill comes as child labor violations have surged in the US. The Department of Labor reported an increase of 88% in such violations between 2019 and 2023 as Republican states have moved to relax child labor rules. Eight states have passed legislation to roll back child labor protections so far this year.For child labor violations, the US Department of Labor can currently fine employers up to $11,000 per employee who is the subject of a child labor violation and up to $50,000 for each violation that causes injury or death of a minor. The fines can be doubled if the violation is determined to be willful or repeated. The new bill would increase fines up to $150,000 per employee subject to a child labor violation and up to $700,000 for a violation that causes the death or injury of a minor, which still could be doubled for willful or repetitive violations.Wage and hour violations would increase from up to $1,100 per violation to $25,000 per violation, which may be doubled for willful or repetitive violations.“Every American should be fairly compensated and be able to return home safely at the end of the day,” said Robert “Bobby” Scott, Virginia representative and ranking Democratic member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.“Unfortunately, shortcomings in our labor laws enable unethical employers to exploit workers, endanger children and suppress the right to organize – with little accountability,” Scott said. “That’s why I’m proud to introduce the Let’s Protect Workers act, which will hold bad actors accountable and strengthen penalties for labor law violations. This bill will help level the playing field and, once again, restore the balance of power between workers and their employers.”The bill would also introduce civil monetary penalties for unfair labor practices committed by employers, up to $50,000 per violation. Currently, employers do not face any civil monetary penalties aside from back pay and reinstatement of workers for unfair labor practice charges.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe legislation comes in the wake of a report published by Scott in April 2024 that outlined the ineffectiveness of low or non-existent civil monetary penalties for labor violations committed by employers. The report outlines how current fines and penalties are merely “a slap on the wrist”, with employers facing little to no deterrents to breaking labor laws.“Unfortunately, unscrupulous employers are emboldened to violate these foundational worker rights and protections because of the weak civil monetary penalties assessed in response,” the report noted. “Under some labor and employment laws, workers are worse off as employers face no monetary penalty and can break the law cost-free.” More

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      in Elections

      Company Hired 24 Minors to Clean Slaughterhouses, Labor Department Says

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      Fayette Janitorial employed at least 24 children between the ages of 13 and 17 to work overnight shifts cleaning dangerous equipment at plants in Virginia and Iowa, federal regulators said.A Tennessee-based company employed at least two dozen children as young as 13 to work overnight shifts cleaning dangerous equipment in slaughterhouses, including a 14-year-old whose arm was mangled in a piece of machinery, the Labor Department said on Wednesday.The department filed a request on Wednesday for a temporary restraining order and injunction in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa against the company, Fayette Janitorial Service LLC. It provides cleaning services at slaughterhouses in several states, including Iowa and Virginia, where the department said an investigation had found that the company had hired children to clean plants.The Labor Department opened its investigation after an article in The New York Times Magazine reported that Fayette had hired migrant children to work the overnight cleaning shift at a Perdue Farms plant on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.Fayette did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman told The Times in September that the company was unaware of any minors on its staff and learned of the 14-year-old’s true age only after he was injured.Meat processing is among the nation’s most dangerous industries, and minors are barred under federal law from working in slaughterhouses because of the high risk of injury. But that has not stopped thousands of destitute migrant children from coming to the United States from Mexico and Central America to work dangerous jobs, including in meatpacking plants.The Labor Department found that Fayette had hired at least 24 children between the ages of 13 and 17 to work the overnight shift cleaning dangerous power-driven equipment at a Perdue plant in Accomack County, Va., and at a plant operated by Seaboard Triumph Foods in Sioux City, Iowa. Fifteen children were working at the Virginia plant, and at least nine children were found to be working at the Iowa plant, the department said in its complaint requesting the injunction and restraining order.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      U.S. Failed to Safeguard Many Migrant Children, Review Finds

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      Many sponsors were inadequately vetted and safety checks went unfulfilled, an independent watchdog found. Children ended up in dangerous jobs across the country.An independent government watchdog found serious lapses at the Department of Health and Human Services in its protection of children who migrate to the United States on their own, according to a report released Thursday.H.H.S., the federal agency responsible for sheltering migrant children when they arrive by themselves, repeatedly handed them over to adult sponsors in the United States without thorough vetting and sometimes failed to conduct timely safety checks on children once they were released, said the report by the department’s inspector general.“I would define these gaps as very serious,” said Haley Lubeck, the project leader for the review. “We know that these children are especially vulnerable to exploitation.”The findings echoed New York Times reporting that the screening of sponsors and other safeguards for migrant children broke down during the first years of the Biden administration as hundreds of thousands of children crossed the border amid a pandemic-era economic collapse in parts of Central America. Migrant children have ended up working dangerous industrial jobs in violation of child labor laws across the country — in slaughterhouses, factories, construction sites and elsewhere, The Times found. Some have been gravely injured or killed.The report follows a June audit that H.H.S. conducted in response to Times reporting that found that many children were living with strangers who expected or even forced them to work. That audit revealed that government case workers had released more than 340 migrant children to adults who were sponsoring three or more children who were not family members.In early 2021, record numbers of children started crossing the border faster than H.H.S. could process them. With no room left in shelters, many children stayed on cots in crowded tents, sparking public outrage. The Biden administration pressured staff members to move the children out of shelters more quickly, and government workers said they saw children being sent to adults who clearly intended to put them to work.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More