The issue of children working in hazardous slaughterhouses remains a significant concern as the Labor Department recently reached its third agreement this week with a company in the industry. The company, QSI, was found to have employed 54 children at 13 meatpacking plants across eight states on overnight shifts between 2021 and 2024. This marks the fourth instance of a cleaning contractor in the industry being caught hiring underage workers in the past two-and-a-half years, resulting in QSI agreeing to pay a $400,000 penalty.
Despite QSI disputing the Department's description of the problem, investigations did not find any current juvenile workers. However, the Department has emphasized the need for reforms to prevent future hiring of underage workers in dangerous jobs like those in meatpacking plants.
