Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay a $2 million fine to settle allegations of employing underage workers at its St. James, Minnesota, meatpacking plant.

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, or DLI, entered into a Nov. 13 consent order with Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. to resolve a two-year investigation that found the plant to have employed at least 11 minors between the ages of 14 and 17 from April 13, 2021, through the same date in 2023.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits anyone under age 18 from operating or cleaning power-driven meat processing machines found in slaughtering, rendering or packing plants. 

DLI’s investigation found three of the 11 minor workers had begun working for Smithfield Foods when they were 14. DLI’s investigation further found the company to have employed nine of the 11 minors for shifts in violation of the Minnesota Child Labor Standards Act, or MCLSA, which requires that workers ages 16 and under not work after 9 p.m. and those 16 or 17 years old not work past 11 p.m. on school nights.

Smithfield Foods first disputed Minnesota’s claims in 2023 and, according to a Nov. 14 company news release, “denies that we knowingly hired anyone under the age of 18 to work in our St. James facility.”

“We have not admitted liability as part of this settlement; however, in the interest of preventing the distraction of prolonged litigation, we have agreed to settle this matter,” the news release states.

“We have zero tolerance for labor law violations,” said Vice President of Corporate Affairs Jim Monroe, who said Smithfield would be taking actions at all of its facilities, including the one on North Church Street in its namesake town, to ensure that all employees are of legal age.

The company has put forward a 13-point corrective plan that includes  I-9 audits to verify employees are of legal age and immigration status, refresher training for human resources staff and an enhanced policy specifically emphasizing the prohibition against underage labor.

According to DLI, all 11 minors performed hazardous work including working near chemicals or other hazardous substances, operating power-driven machinery including meat grinders and slicers, and operating non-automatic elevators, lifts or hoisting machines including motorized pallet jacks. The $2 million fine, according to a DLI news release, is the largest penalty DLI has recovered in a child labor enforcement action.

“It is unacceptable for a company to employ minor children to perform hazardous work late at night,” said DLI Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach in a Nov. 14 news release. “This illegal behavior impacts children’s health, safety and well-being and their ability to focus on their education and their future. Combatting unlawful child labor in Minnesota is a priority for DLI and it will continue to devote resources to addressing and resolving these violations. DLI’s resolution with Smithfield sends a strong message to employers, including in the meat processing industry, that child labor violations will not be tolerated in Minnesota.”

“Smithfield screens all individuals we hire through E-Verify, a federal system that validates employment eligibility of U.S. citizens and non-citizens based on records available to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration,” Smithfield Foods said in its Nov. 14 statement. “Unfortunately, E-Verify does not prevent incidences of identity theft or document fraud or detect all such incidences when they occur. Each of the 11 alleged underage individuals passed the E-Verify system by using false identification. Each used a different name to obtain employment with Smithfield than the name by which DLI identified them to Smithfield.”

According to the consent order, “without admitting any liability, Smithfield is willing to pay an administrative penalty and agrees to implement activities as part of a compliance program.”

The order requires Smithfield Foods to “maintain and implement a workplace policy at its St. James facility that expressly addresses Smithfield’s prohibition against child labor” that “must state that salaried managerial employees must conduct visual screenings of employees and those salaried managerial employees must report any actual or suspected minor children.”

Per the order, Smithfield has 10 days to remedy each alleged violation of the MCLSA identified by the DLI or by Smithfield, and to notify DLI of its corrective actions.

“Smithfield is committed to maintaining a safe workplace and complying with all applicable employment laws and regulations,” the company’s Nov. 14 news release states. “We wholeheartedly agree that individuals under the age of 18 have no place working in meatpacking or processing facilities. As a matter of policy, Smithfield Foods Inc. and its subsidiaries do not employ anyone under the age of 18 to work in any of our processing facilities. Additionally, we require our suppliers, including our third-party sanitation service providers, to follow this policy.”

Smithfield Foods’ local North Church Street meatpacking plant ended its contract with Packers Sanitation Services Inc., also known as PSSI Food Safety Solutions, in 2022. That same year, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found PSSI to have employed at least 102 minors ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old working overnight shifts in hazardous occupations at 13 meatpacking plants in eight states, though none were Smithfield facilities. PSSI paid a $1.5 million fine in 2023 as a result of the investigation.

While the North Church Street plant no longer uses PSSI, other Smithfield plants still do.

“PSSI serves some of our facilities,” Monroe said. “Like the rest of the industry, they too have bolstered their efforts to detect identity fraud  within their workforce.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3:39 p.m. on Nov. 15 with comments by Smithfield Vice President of Corporate Affairs Jim Monroe.