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The Tennessee Conservative [by Paula Gomes] –
A Tennessee cleaning contractor is on the hook for $400,000 in civil money penalties after it was found to have employed children illegally to do dangerous jobs.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Chattanooga based QSI LLC must also monitor and audit policies to prevent the violations in the future and make available a an anonymous toll-free reporting hotline regarding the illegal employment of children.
Following an investigation conducted by the DOL’s wage and Hour Division, QSI was found to have violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by employing children to work overnight shifts sanitizing dangerous equipment at thirteen meat and poultry processing facilities over the course of three years in several states, including Tennessee.
In order to maintain compliance with federal law, QSI will also survey all of its work locations to determine if any employees are minors, review and evaluate its child labor compliance training materials currently available for managers, and maintain accurate records of all employees which will include their dates of birth and tasks assigned to them.
The company must also make sure there is an anti-child labor provision for all third-parties that it contracts with for services.
Sadly, this is not the first time a Tennessee company has been found to be in violation of these laws.
In January of 2024, Morristown company Tuff Torq Corporation was found employing immigrant children, some as young as fourteen.
When investigators showed up at the company that manufactures parts for John Deere, Toro, and Yamaha, they witnessed a child driving a “power-driven hoisting apparatus” which is unlawful for anyone to use who is under the age of eighteen. Minors were also working late into the night at the twenty-four hour facility.
Last May, Fayette Janitorial Services, LLC, another sanitation company based in Somerville, was found to have employed at least twenty-four children, some just thirteen-years-old, to clean facilities responsible for slaughtering and meatpacking during overnight shifts.
And in November, a franchisee of two Marco’s Pizza restaurants in Knoxville were discovered to have employed twenty children to clean and disassemble dangerous equipment, while also having them work beyond their legally allowed hours.
The minors were working on dough sheeters, a violation of a child labor hazardous occupation order, and the FLSA child labor hours standard was also being overlooked as fifteen-year-olds were cooking and baking at the restaurants, something that is prohibited for those under the age of sixteen. The employer also had eleven minors between the ages of fourteen and fifteen working past 7 p.m. between Labor Day and June 1st.
Last year, DOL investigators discovered over four-thousand children doing jobs that violated federal child labor laws. Violators were fined more than $15 million, a significant increase of eighty-nine percent from 2023. The division is still in the process of investigating more than a thousand cases across the United States.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
