Two meat packing plants in Arkansas are caught up in a high-profile nationwide sting to suss out child labor law violations.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that they discovered 102 children ages 13-17 working overnight shifts in plants in Arkansas and across the country. Those young workers were tasked with cleaning up caustic chemicals and sanitizing saws and other processing equipment. Four of those children were working at George’s Inc. in Batesville, and six of them were working at a Tyson facility in Green Forest.

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Packers Sanitation Services Inc., a contractor that cleans these facilities, is on the hook for $1.5 million in penalties. From the Labor Department’s announcement:

“The child labor violations in this case were systemic and reached across eight states, and clearly indicate a corporate-wide failure by Packers Sanitation Services at all levels,” explained Principal Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division Jessica Looman. “These children should never have been employed in meat packing plants and this can only happen when employers do not take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place.”

“Our investigation found Packers Sanitation Services’ systems flagged some young workers as minors, but the company ignored the flags. When the Wage and Hour Division arrived with warrants, the adults – who had recruited, hired and supervised these children – tried to derail our efforts to investigate their employment practices,” said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Michael Lazzeri in Chicago.

While it’s mostly federal law that prohibits child labor in meat processing environments, the heightened scrutiny still makes for awkward timing for the Arkansas legislators currently sponsoring a bill to ease up on child labor restrictions in the state.

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Arkansas’s Youth Hiring Act of 2023 by Republican state lawmakers Reps. Rebecca Burkes of Lowell and Kendon Underwood of Cave Springs, and Sen. Clint Penzo of Springdale, is one of many pieces of legislation being run by conservative lawmakers across the country in what appears to be a unified push to ease up limitations on where and when young people can work.

The Arkansas bill would do away with work permits for people under 16. The bill would repeal a requirement currently in place for anyone who employs someone under 16 to keep on file proof of age, a description of the job and schedule, and permission from a parent or guardian.

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As conservative Arkansas lawmakers push to deny housing, health care and other basics to people who don’t have jobs, it makes sense that they’re also considering ways to put more people on payrolls.

The Guardian looked into it recently, though, and they don’t seem to think laws that could put more kids to work in more places at younger ages is a good idea. This is from their Feb. 11 story, which examined a wave of legislation being pitched across the country:

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The laws aim to expand permissible work hours, broaden the types of jobs young workers are permitted to do, and shield employers from liability for injuries, illnesses or workplace fatalities involving very young workers.

Child labor law violations have increased in the US, with a 37% increase in fiscal year 2022, including 688 children working in hazardous conditions, with the number likely much higher as the recorded violations stem from what was found during labor inspections.

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