Recently unsealed court documents contain damning evidence that suggests Tyson Foods Inc., one of its subsidiaries or its contractors may have employed minors as teenage as 11 and 13 in its food processing operations in Arkansas. And that those minors could be working overnight shifts and in hazardous conditions, such as on a “kill floor”.
The United States Department of Labor is investigating Tyson for possible violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, specifically violations surrounding the employment of minors. The investigation was opened by the Houston District Office for the Wage and Hour Division after it received two separate anonymous tips over the summer that minors were possibly working at the meat producer’s facilities in Green Forest and Rogers.
The labor department’s investigation is yet another probe by the agency into Tyson operations and possible child labor violations in recent months. Last year, the Department of Labor launched an investigation into Tyson and other meat producers after a cleaning contractor was found to have hired children to work shifts in various meatpacking facilities in Arkansas and around the country.
Investigators did not find Tyson in violation of labor laws for that investigation.
In its latest inquiry, Department of Labor investigators said they received an anonymous complaint in June from a source “who said she was a mother of middle schoolers and overheard children between 11 and 13 years old discussing their employment at the Green Forest Tyson Foods processing plant on the night shift from about 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. or 8 a.m.”
“The source did not know the names of the children but stated that the children were talking about not knowing how to get money from their paycheck out of the ATM,” according to Sept. 6 court filings requesting search warrants. “The complainant stated the children were discussing cleaning equipment and floors at the facility.”
The search warrant requests include photographs taken by labor department investigators who staked out the Green Forest facility in mid-July to corroborate the information provided by the anonymous tipster. The photographs show what appear to be teenagers entering or exiting the plant. “Based on their appearance, dress and demeanor, I believe them to be minors,” the Wage and Hour Division investigator said.
Read the U.S. Department of Labor’s request for search warrants here:
Search warrants were issued for facilities as well as Tyson’s headquarters. Searches were executed Sept. 11 with only electronic records confiscated, according to court filings.
In a separate tip, also sent in June, a teacher submitted a complaint to the labor department after a 14-year-old student shared details of working at a Tyson facility in Rogers over the summer.
Tyson has denied wrongdoing. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su requested in court that documents be sealed until search warrants were executed.
Here is a copy of a search warrant for Tyson’s facilities:
