Tennessee firm hired kids to clean head splitters and other dangerous equipment in meat plants, Feds allege

The U.S. Department of Labor is alleging a Tennessee firm illegally employed children as young as 13, some of whom were found to be cleaning dangerous equipment like head splitters and jaw pullers in meat processing plants during overnight shifts.

The development comes as part of an ongoing probe into whether migrant kids are cleaning U.S. slaughterhouses and less than a year after the government fined another sanitation services provider $1.5 million for employing more than 100 kids —  ages 13 to 17 — at 13 meat processing plants in eight states. Federal law prohibits minors from working in meat processing due to an increased risk of injury. 

The Labor Department on Wednesday said it had requested a federal court in Iowa issue a temporary injunction against Somerville, Tennessee-based Fayette Janitorial Services after investigators found it employed children for overnight shifts to fulfill sanitation contracts at meat and poultry companies.