In a landmark settlement, a network of California poultry processors and distributors have been ordered to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages, and relinquish $1 million in profits, following a Department of Labor investigation that uncovered child labor and wage violations. This settlement is one of the largest ever reached for U.S. poultry workers.
The federal court in Los Angeles issued the consent judgment against Fu Qian Chen Lu, Bruce Shu Hua Lok, and others who own and operate the poultry network. The companies implicated include A1 Meat Solutions, Lotus Plus, Lotus Poultry, Farmers Process, Durfee Poultry, L & Y Food, JRC Culinary Group, and Moon Poultry.
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division discovered that the poultry enterprise had illegally employed children, some as young as 14, to use sharp knives to debone poultry, a clear violation of federal child labor regulations. The investigation also revealed that the employers and their associates denied overtime wages to poultry and red meat cutters and packers, and falsified payroll records to obstruct the probe.
"When we find an employer has put a child’s well-being at risk in return for profit, the Department of Labor will use all available tools to seek to remove children from harm’s way and prevent future violations," said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. "No employer should profit off the shipment of contraband and the backs of children."
The investigation, which began in January 2024, also uncovered retaliation against workers by supervisors at the employers’ facilities. Workers were reportedly told they had put the “noose around their own necks” for speaking to the department, and were subjected to derogatory slurs and changes in employment terms.
The court judgment directs the employers to pay more than $1.8 million in back wages and $3 million in damages to the affected workers. They must also pay civil money penalties for their child labor violations and willful overtime violations, and forfeit profits earned from the sale of goods tainted by oppressive child labor. These profits, totaling $1 million, will benefit the child workers.
In addition, the court has permanently forbidden Lu, Lok, and their associates from future Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations. The employers have agreed to strong remedial measures to ensure future compliance, including providing training on the FLSA to all managers and supervisors and hiring an independent third-party to monitor compliance with the FLSA and the terms of the consent judgment at their facilities.
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- Department of Labor finds children employed illegally in dangerous jobs, obtains $4.8M in wages, damages for poultry industry workers in California
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