Members of a network of California poultry processors and distributors have agreed to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages and give up $1 million in profits after a Labor Department investigation found child labor and wage violations.
Children as young as 14 were found using "razor sharp" knives to debone poultry in businesses associated with Fu Qian Chen Lu and Bruce Shu Hua Lok, according to a Labor Department press release. The Labor Department also said the businesses had deprived "hundreds of workers nearly $2 million in overtime wages."
The consent judgment was approved by Sherilyn Peace Garnett, a U.S. district judge in the Central District of California.
The businesses named as defendants in the consent judgement document include A1 Meat Solutions; Lotus Plus; Lotus Poultry; Farmers Process; Durfee Poultry; and Cameron Zhong Lu; in addition to existing Defendants L & Y Food; JRC Culinary Group; and Moon Poultry.
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Supervisors at the facilities, the press release says, retaliated against the workers after the Labor Department investigation began in January, "telling them they put the 'noose around their own necks' for talking to the department and calling them derogatory slurs, as well as changing the terms of employment." The release also accuses the defendants' previous lawyer of ignoring subpoenas and trying to "obstruct the investigation."
The defendants, according to the settlement, agreed to pay $1.8 million in back wages, as well as $3 billion in damages to workers. They will also give up $1 million in profits from selling goods linked to child labor, and pay $171,919 in child labor penalties.
They have also agreed to "provide training on the Fair Labor Standards Act to all managers and supervisors and to hire an independent third-party to monitor compliance with the FLSA and the terms of the consent judgment at their facilities," according to the news release.
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