Poultry Processor to Pay $3.8M for Child Labor Violations
The Exclusive Poultry Inc., found to have endangered young workers and violated federal child labor regulations, will pay back wages, damages, and penalties, and will be monitored for three years to ensure compliance.
- Poultry processor The Exclusive Poultry Inc. and related companies, established by owner Tony Bran, have agreed to pay nearly $3.8 million in back wages, damages and penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the company endangered young workers and violated federal child labor regulations.
- The companies were found to have employed children as young as 14 years old to debone poultry using sharp knives and operate power-driven lifts to move pallets, and also retaliated against employees for cooperating with investigators by cutting their wages.
- The Exclusive Poultry supplies poultry products to distributors who sell chicken products to, among others, Grocery Outlet, SYSCO Corp., ALDI, Nestle Purina, Royal Canin U.S.A. Inc. and Ralphs Grocery Company, a subsidiary of The Kroger Company.
- The judgment requires The Exclusive Poultry to retain a monitor for three years to ensure future compliance and to show a hiring preference for those workers they fired following the department’s search of the poultry plants.
- This case is part of the department’s ongoing effort to combat child labor abuses and wage theft in the poultry and meat processing industries.
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