L.A. poultry firm hired kids as young as 14 to work with sharp knives, Labor Dept. says

[Jilly_in_VA]

The Labor Department says that a Los Angeles-based poultry processor hired children as young as 14 to debone chicken with sharp knives and hid minors in closets when investigators showed up to ask questions, according to court documents and a new consent decree with the company announced Monday.

The poultry processor, known as The Exclusive Poultry, processes chicken at two L.A. locations and sells its chicken to retailers like the grocery chain Aldi and Ralphs Grocery Co., a subsidiary of the Kroger Co. As part of the consent decree, The Exclusive Poultry agreed to pay more than $3.8 million, including back wages, damages and $200,000 in civil penalties for hiring children, according to the Labor Department.

“The Exclusive Poultry and owner Tony Bran willfully withheld workers’ hard-earned wages, endangered young workers and retaliated against employees to conceal their wrongdoing,” said Jessica Looman, administrator of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division. She added that the division "will continue to work at every level of the industry to prevent employers or retailers from exploiting workers, including children, for profit.”

The company’s attorney, Anthony McClaren, told NBC News: “These were just allegations and the case was in its infancy. We were just beginning to do our own discovery to understand whether or not these allegations were true.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/los-angeles-poultry-firm-hired-kids-young-14-work-sharp-knives-rcna127938

Yeah, right. You know damn well they are. Stop stalling.

[Magoo48]

1. Shut down the entire operation and use the assets to form a neighborhood co-op.

If governments are allowed to confiscate the assets of drug operations, they ought to be able to seize the assets of crooked corporations.

[OldBaldy1701E]

4. Hear Hear!

[redqueen]

5. They could, but money.

Congress cares more about money than literally anything else.

[brewens]

2. I worked at a Skippers Seafood joint in high school and you had to be 18 to cut fish or even grind

cabbage. That made plenty of money when those places were hot.

Skippers was I think mostly a northwest regional chain. The menu was more limited than a Red Lobster, but in the beginning, they really did shit right. If I could sit down to an old-fashioned Skippers all you can eat, I'd be out the door right now!

[ForgedCrank]

3. To be

frank about it, if you are 14 and can't be trusted with a sharp knife, there are some other issues that also need to be addressed.
Yes I get it, I know why we need labor laws so don't even start on me. But for cryin out loud, I was running heavy machinery at that age, and I was smart enough to not stick my limbs into places they didn't belong. And I was glad. I wasn't being "exploited", I wanted to work and make money for myself. I'm just saying that maybe this isn't as dreadfully outrageous as it's being made out to be.

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. I worked on my father's farm from the age of 12.

My brother started when he was 12. This was a farm, with very big dangerous machinery, and plenty of sharp devices and even animals that could and would hurt you if given a chance. And, I never got more than a splinter myself. As with yourself, there is much to be said for having a decent head on one's shoulders.