Bacon and sausage maker Smithfield Foods, Inc., settled with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) over a claim the company hired underage workers. The company issued a statement on Nov. 14 in response to news of the settlement.
“Smithfield contested DLI’s claims and denies that we knowingly hired anyone under the age of 18 to work in our St. James facility,” the company states. “We have not admitted liability as part of this settlement; however, in the interest of preventing the distraction of prolonged litigation, we have agreed to settle this matter.”
The claims stem from an inspection conducted by DLI on April 13, 2023, at the St. James, Minn., food production facility. On July 26, 2023, DLI served Smithfield with a compliance order claiming the company had employed 11 underage individuals at the facility at some point between April 13, 2021, and April 13, 2023.
Smithfield says it is committed to maintaining a safe workplace and complying with all applicable employment laws and regulations.
“We wholeheartedly agree that individuals under the age of 18 have no place working in meatpacking or processing facilities. As a matter of policy, Smithfield Foods, Inc., and its subsidiaries do not employ anyone under the age of 18 to work in any of our processing facilities. Additionally, we require our suppliers, including our third-party sanitation service providers, to follow this policy,” says the Smithfield statement.
The company says it screens all individuals hired through E-Verify, a federal system that validates employment eligibility of U.S. citizens and non-citizens based on records available to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
“Unfortunately, E-Verify does not prevent incidences of identity theft or document fraud or detect all such incidences when they occur,” the Smithfield statement says.
All 11 alleged underage individuals passed the E-Verify system by using false identification. Each used a different name to obtain employment with Smithfield than the name by which DLI identified them to Smithfield.
Due to identify theft and fraud in the U.S. labor force, Smithfield has outlined additional steps the company will take to proactively enforce its policy prohibiting the employment of minors, including:
• Consistent and increased communications within the company to reinforce our policy prohibiting the employment of minors, which emphasize that all our employees – especially supervisors – are responsible for enforcing this prohibition and for raising any concerns about underage workers.
• Additional signage at our processing facilities with reminders that all employees must be over the age of 18 and stressing the importance of vigilance and reporting any concerns.
• Refresher training for all human resources staff on I-9 procedures, detecting identity fraud among job candidates and new hires, and detecting document irregularities and informational inconsistencies that might suggest that a candidate or new hire is under the age of 18.
• I-9 audits conducted as part of our internal program of human resources audits.
• Visual inspection protocols for all shifts with enhanced visual screening for temporary workers and employees of third-party sanitation contractors. The inspection protocols require, among other things, that temporary and contract sanitation workers be issued a Smithfield ID badge with a photo of the worker only after their identify is confirmed. Our on-site security staff, as well as Smithfield managers, compare workers’ faces to the photos on their badge IDs.
• Annual Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) audits, including during third shifts when sanitation contractors are present at the facility.
• Continuing to have in place and publicize a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that prohibits all human rights abuses, including the employment of minors.
• Distributed an enhanced policy specifically targeting the prohibition against underage labor and making all employees, particularly supervisors and above, responsible for reporting any violations of that policy.
With temporary labor agency partners and sanitation contractors, Smithfield has:
• Reinforced Smithfield’s expectation of full compliance with all work eligibility laws, including maintaining and enforcing a robust system for detecting identity theft and fraud.
• Expressed our expectation that all agencies and contractors will use E-Verify.
• Advised them of Smithfield’s visual inspection protocols.
• Reviewed contractor procedures to ensure compliance with work eligibility laws.
• Negotiated contractual provisions documenting these expectations.
“All of these measures are consistent with the best practices for workforce age verification put forth by the Meat Institute,” Smithfield says. “We will continue to follow these practices and will actively seek new safeguards and solutions.”
Smithfield’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and Supplier Code of Conduct may be viewed here.
The Meat Institute’s Meat and Poultry Industry Best Practices Workforce Age Verification guidance may be found here.
