California Firm to Pay $3.8 Million for Illegally Employing Children in ‘Dangerous Jobs’: DOL

The Labor Department says the poultry processor hired children as young as 14 to debone chickens with sharp knives and drive power-driven lifts.

The U.S. Department of Labor building in Washington, on Nov. 13, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A poultry processor and supplier in Southern California has agreed to pay nearly $3.8 million in penalties and damages after an investigation found that the firm employed minors in “dangerous jobs,” the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced on Monday.

The agency said in a statement a that the company, known as The Exclusive Poultry Inc., hired children as young as 14 to debone poultry with sharp knives and operate power-driven lifts to move pallets.