Feds say LA poultry company used child labor for risky jobs then hid its product

In summary

The US Labor Department investigated a company it says employed underaged workers as deboners then shipped its product. The company’s lawyer denies it.

Federal labor investigators demand money forfeiture for employing minors

Federal labor investigators are demanding an L.A.-area poultry company forfeit money they said it made by employing minors in dangerous jobs. At least two minors had been working in “oppressive” conditions, deboning raw poultry with sharp knives at a poultry processing plant in Irwindale, the U.S. Department of Labor alleged in a lawsuit filed Saturday.

The department also alleged the owner of the processing plant, Fu Qian Chen Lu, and owners of two other associated companies illegally shipped poultry products that had been handled by children workers, violating the “hot goods” provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act. That provision prohibits companies from shipping products that come from locations where government investigators observed child labor in the prior 30 days.

“Instead of being in school, children younger than 18 years old stand on their feet all day in a chilled cutting room surrounded by raw chicken, using knives they must constantly sharpen, to cut and debone chicken,” attorneys for the labor department wrote in court documents.

Dueling child labor allegations

A lawyer representing Chen Lu and the other defendants accused the labor department of planting an under-aged worker in the facilities. The labor department denies this. Gregory Patterson, an LA-area attorney, said the labor department has demanded a multimillion-dollar “posting amount” without any meaningful evidence that workers weren’t paid full wages.

He told CalMatters in an email that the labor department had a worker younger than 18 hired at Moon Poultry using false identification in late January, as a part of the investigation. “The (labor department) then directed this person to work in a hazardous area of the Moon Poultry facility in Irwindale,” Patterson wrote. “The (department) has cynically used the child labor allegation — which it manufactured — to strengthen its negotiating hand and attempt to force us into an early settlement of the overtime claims.” He said the labor department “is likely to be a defendant before this is over.”

A labor department attorney said its staff did not place an underaged employee in the poultry plants or direct them to work in a dangerous job. “The defense counsel’s allegations are false. The Labor Department has previously responded to the defense counsel on this issue, but he has nevertheless chosen to press his baseless claims,” said Marc Pilotin, regional solicitor for the labor department.

Search warrants and interviews

Investigators discovered children working at the poultry processing plant on March 20 when they served a search warrant against Chen Lu’s company, Moon Poultry, according to the lawsuit. The labor department said minors have worked at the Irwindale facility since at least October, and investigators identified two of the minors working as chicken deboners in the last two months. One was identified during the March 20 search and the other was found before then using Moon Poultry’s payroll records, according to court documents.

The labor department said it notified Chen Lu of the child labor violations and that products handled by the minors were considered “hot goods” that cannot be shipped. Chen Lu agreed verbally and in a written statement that he would not ship the hot goods, but he did so anyway, the department said. Chen Lu manages two other companies, L&Y Food, Inc. and JRC Culinary Group, which frequently receive poultry shipments from Moon Poultry, according to the labor department. Both companies and their owners, Bruce Shu Hua Lok and Ryan Zhong Lu are listed as defendants in the lawsuit. Zhong Lu is Chen Lu’s 18-year-old son. The labor department’s investigators “discovered that 794 boxes of processed chicken and seven 1,500-pound bins of chicken had been removed from the Irwindale facility,” court documents state.

Other enforcement actions

Michael Eastwood, director of enforcement in the labor department’s wage and hour division’s western region, said when investigators execute a search warrant, they usually conduct confidential interviews with employees and review business records. Employees are told why investigators are there and that they don’t ask employees about their immigration status. In late January, labor department investigators also executed a search warrant at several other processing plants in El Monte and Monterey Park owned by at least one company listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, said Chanchanit Martorell, head of the Thai Community Development Center, a community nonprofit. The center, along with the Los Angeles County Office of Immigrant Affairs, an attorney with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and other nonprofit partners, spoke with workers outside the plants in January and offered public services and legal support if they needed it, she said.

The labor department lawsuit asks a judge to order the defendants to give up all profits earned from child labor and pay additional civil penalties arising from labor law violations. “Our primary concern is stopping the employment of kids doing dangerous things,” Eastwood said. The actions follow a December judgment against another L.A.-area poultry processing company, The Exclusive Poultry Inc. The labor department ordered its owner and associated front companies to pay almost $3.8 million in back wages, damages and penalties. The department says there’s been a nationwide surge in child labor in recent years. It has pressed at least 34 child labor cases in California as of December, involving 103 children employed in violation of labor laws.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. No Poverty

• Target 1.2: By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women, and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
• Indicator 1.2.2: Proportion of men, women, and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.

4. Quality Education

• Target 4.4: By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship.
• Indicator 4.4.1: Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill.

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

• Target 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms.
• Indicator 8.7.1: Proportion and number of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labor, by sex and age group.

16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

• Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
• Indicator 16.2.2: Number of victims of human trafficking per 100,000 population, by sex, age group, and form of exploitation.

Analysis

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

The SDGs that are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article are:
– SDG 1: No Poverty
– SDG 4: Quality Education
– SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
– SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

Based on the article’s content, the specific targets under the identified SDGs are:
– Target 1.2: Reduce the proportion of men, women, and children living in poverty.
– Target 4.4: Increase the number of youth and adults with relevant skills for employment.
– Target 8.7: Eradicate forced labor and end child labor.
– Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and violence against children.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, there are indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets:
– Indicator 1.2.2: Proportion of men, women, and children living in poverty.
– Indicator 4.4.1: Proportion of youth and adults with ICT skills.
– Indicator 8.7.1: Proportion and number of children engaged in child labor.
– Indicator 16.2.2: Number of victims of human trafficking.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: calmatters.org

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