The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and Office of the Solicitor found illegal employment practices from California poultry processor and supplier The Executive Poultry Inc. The company supplied product to retailers and distributors, including Ralphs, Aldi, Grocery Outlet, and Sysco Corp, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Aldi denies ties to the processing facility.
“At Aldi, we have stringent processes for identifying vendors and suppliers to ensure all business partners are compliant with all legal and regulatory requirements,” said an Aldi spokesperson. “The Exclusive Poultry has never been an Aldi supplier.”
Grocery Outlet, Ralphs, and Sysco could not be immediately reached for comment.
Division investigators found that The Exclusive Poultry Inc. and related companies established by owner Tony Bran employed children as young as 14 years old to debone poultry using sharp knives and operate power-driven lifts to move pallets. The children also worked excessive hours in violation of federal child labor regulations. The company also retaliated against employees for cooperating with investigators by cutting their wages.
Because of these violations, the poultry processor has agreed to pay nearly $3.8 million in back wages, damages, and penalties after the department found the company endangered young workers recklessly in Southern California.
The division determined that Bran, The Exclusive Poultry, and their associated companies willfully failed to pay required overtime wages to their employees, paying them either a piece rate or a straight time hourly rate even when they worked 50 or 60 hours per week. Investigators also found the employers failed to maintain required records when they intentionally omitted workers from payroll records.
“The Exclusive Poultry and owner Tony Bran willfully withheld workers’ hard-earned wages, endangered young workers and retaliated against employees to conceal their wrongdoing,” said Jessica Looman, wage and hour administrator for the Department of Labor, in a statement. “The Wage and Hour Division will continue to work at every level of the industry to prevent employers or retailers from exploiting workers, including children, for profit.”
Upon substantiating the child labor and overtime violations, the department’s Office of the Solicitor obtained from the U.S. District Court a temporary restraining order and an injunction to prevent Bran and The Exclusive Poultry from shipping into commerce any “hot goods,” in this case, poultry produced in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and any goods from a location where the department observed child labor.
“The department will not hesitate to invoke the hot goods provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act — including perishable goods — to combat the scourges of wage theft and child labor in our economy,” said Seema Nanda, solicitor of labor for the Department of Labor, in a statement. “Employers who violate the FLSA and their downstream distributors and customers should be on notice that we will use all tools at our disposal to protect workers, regardless of age and immigration status. We encourage workers to come forward and report employers that withhold workers’ wages or put their safety at risk.”
Related: National Strategy to Reduce Food Loss, Waste Drafted; SFA Webinar: Farm Bill Update