OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Durbin, Menendez, Booker Lead Oversight Effort To Hold Companies Accountable For Contracting With Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. Which Unlawfully Employed Migrant Child Labor

Letter

Date: May 31, 2023
Location: Washington, D.C.
Issues: Minors and Children Employment and Affirmative Action

"We write in response to recent reports that your company employed a contractor, Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), that violated the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) prohibition on the use of child labor in hazardous environments and exploited migrant children. We are concerned that your company potentially turned a blind eye to glaring child labor issues in your facilities, and are deeply troubled by the response to previous Congressional inquiries that seek to shift accountability away from host companies to third-party contractors. While we recognize that you may have severed ties with PSSI, we are seeking information on your company's process for monitoring contractor compliance with labor laws as well as information on the changes you will be implementing to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

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We are concerned that [your company] did not conduct sufficiently rigorous monitoring and oversight of third-party contractors like PSSI. This lack of vigilance… allows for egregious violations and raises broader concerns of compliance and accountability. Further, we are concerned that, despite the investigation and settlement by the DOL, Congressional inquiries, and outreach from the United States Department of Agriculture, several host companies have failed to terminate contracts with PSSI, have failed to address the deficiencies in their existing compliance and auditing practices, and/or have failed to institute company-wide oversight practices to address the current crisis.

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Without concerted efforts by all relevant parties to root out all instances of child labor across the industry, children will continue to be illegally employed and exploited in dangerous working conditions in our country. As such, we write to ask your company a number of questions to ensure that you properly monitor your contractors for potential FLSA and Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) violations, including child labor, and get to the bottom of past monitoring failures."


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