Perdue Agrees to Pay $4 Million After Children Worked Hazardous Jobs, Labor Department Says

The company logo and address on a building on the parking lot outside the Perdue Farms Chicken and poultry processing factory in Salisbury, Md., on May 2, 2020. Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images

ACCOMAC, Va.—Perdue Farms will pay $4 million in restitution after it employed children in hazardous occupations at a Virginia plant and let them work past 7 p.m. during the regular school week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Wednesday.

The hazardous work at the Accomac facility included deboning chicken using equipment such as electric knives, the department said in a news release. The conditions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.