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Greater than 3,800 kids have been discovered to be working at U.S. firms final yr in violation of federal legislation, the Labor Division mentioned Monday in saying a crackdown on baby labor.
The brand new measures, which embody the launching of an interagency job drive and enhanced monitoring of minors who enter the nation alone, have been introduced within the wake of media stories, together with by NBC Information, on kids working grueling jobs within the U.S.
"We see every single day the scourge of kid labor on this nation, and we have now a authorized and an ethical obligation to take each step in our energy to stop it," Labor Secretary Marty Walsh mentioned in an announcement.
Since 2018, there was a 69 p.c improve within the variety of kids employed in violation of labor legal guidelines, officers mentioned.
Some 835 firms have been based to be illegally using minors final yr, the Labor Division mentioned, and greater than 600 baby labor investigations stay ongoing.
The issue has grown worse as growing numbers of youngsters fleeing violence and poverty in Latin America have arrived within the U.S. with out dad and mom, officers mentioned.
NBC Information beforehand reported that 102 kids as younger as 13 have been discovered to be working hazardous in a single day jobs cleansing slaughterhouses in what the Labor Division referred to as a "corporate-wide failure" by one of many largest meals sanitation firms within the nation, Packers Sanitation Companies Inc.
A few of the kids working to wash slaughterhouses within the Midwest who have been employed by the corporate are unaccompanied minor kids from Guatemala who got here throughout the Southern border, in line with advocates and legal professionals.
Homeland Safety investigators are wanting into whether or not the kids, largely undocumented migrants, have been a part of a human trafficking scheme, DHS officers mentioned. PSSI will not be a goal of that investigation and has not been accused of wrongdoing by DHS.
A PSSI spokeswoman informed NBC Information that it has a "sturdy company dedication to our zero-tolerance coverage in opposition to using anybody beneath the age of 18, and totally shares the DOL’s goal of guaranteeing full compliance in any respect areas."
Federal officers confirmed Monday that they're investigating Hearthside Meals Options for attainable baby labor violations, which was the topic of a New York Occasions article over the weekend.
A Hearthside spokesman mentioned the corporate will "work collaboratively with the Division of Labor of their investigation and do our half to proceed to abide by all native, state and federal employment legal guidelines."
In stepping up its efforts to focus on firms that use baby labor, the Labor Division will use new methods to launch investigations the place baby labor violations are almost definitely to happen. The company referred to as on Congress to extend the utmost penalty for baby labor violations, which is at present $15,000.
"That is not excessive sufficient to be a deterrent for main worthwhile firms," the Labor Division mentioned in a information launch.
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