The U.S. Department of Labor has stepped up its investigation into possible child labor law violations in New Bedford’s seafood processing industry, The Public’s Radio has learned.
The agency is looking into whether processing companies and the staffing firms that supply workers to them have violated federal child labor, overtime pay, and anti-retaliation laws aimed at protecting minors.
The Public’s Radio reported in September that the Labor Department was investigating whether two seafood processors, The Atlantic Red Crab Co. and Sea Watch International, and the staffing firm Workforce Unlimited, Inc. violated federal child labor, overtime pay, and anti-retaliation laws.
That investigation now includes three additional staffing firms, B.J.’s Service Company, Superior Temps, and Empire Staffing, according to newly obtained documents, that show the labor department expanded its investigation last November. The firms are based in New Bedford and have offices close to several processors.
Federal investigators are also looking into whether B.J.’s and Superior Temps complied with federal overtime laws and whether Empire violated record-keeping requirements.
The three staffing agencies did not respond to requests for comment.
A Labor Department spokesperson would neither confirm nor comment on the status of the investigation but said in a statement responding to a question about why the companies were being investigated:
“The WHD [Wage and Hour Division] targets low-wage industries, for example, because of high rates of violations or egregious violations, the employment of vulnerable workers, or rapid changes in an industry such as growth or decline. Occasionally, a number of businesses in a specific geographic area will be examined. The objective of targeted investigations is to improve compliance with the laws in those businesses, industries, or localities.”
Migrant teens in risky jobs
Over the past three decades, many migrants from Central America and other regions have found jobs in processing plants.
As part of its two-year investigation into labor conditions in seafood processing plants, The Public’s Radio found more than two dozen migrant teens who said they worked in seafood processing plants. Nearly all of them said they were hired by staffing agencies, using fake I.Ds that showed they were 18.
Federal law prohibits 14- and 15-year-olds from working in any manufacturing setting, including seafood processing. For 16- and 17-year olds, investigators determine possible violations by evaluating the specific tasks a minor is performing, according to federal investigators.
Children should not be working in industries that are dangerous for adults, according to multiple federal health agencies. In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the risk of injury or illness in fish processing was more than twice the average for all industries. Adult workers in New Bedford seafood processing plants have lost fingertips to power-driven machines, broken bones, and suffered chemical burns, according to documents obtained from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Teens interviewed by The Public’s Radio described long hours on their feet fileting fish and packaging seafood, working overnight shifts while trying to attend high school during the day. At least seven of the teens said they were hired by B.J.’s, Empire, or Superior and placed in jobs at seafood processors.
Many seafood processors rely on staffing agencies to supply workers as a way to reduce labor costs. On its website, B.J.’s says it provides “as much as 40% of the seafood processing labor” in New Bedford.
Lucio Avila, the president of Superior Temps, told The Public’s Radio in September that Labor Department investigators came to his agency last spring.
“We provided them with all the information on everybody that works for us and several different clients that we service,” Avila said. “And they found no fault in us, because number one, we have a policy that we do not hire anyone under 18 years old.”
But last summer, The Public’s Radio interviewed two migrant teens hired by Superior and placed in jobs at seafood processors. Reporters examined their pay stubs, which listed the names on their fake IDs, and confirmed their ages and other personal details by reviewing their birth certificates. The teens were 16 and 17 when they were hired.
Worker protection
In November, two months after The Public’s Radio published its investigation, the Labor Department sent three separate letters to the Department of Homeland Security, which enforces many immigration laws, seeking “prosecutorial discretion” for employees of B.J.’s, Empire, and Superior. In those letters, the agency wrote that it needs those workers, many of whom lack legal work authorization, to be able to participate in its ongoing probe and in any possible litigation, without fear of deportation or jeopardizing their immigration cases.
Workers who receive prosecutorial discretion could receive an additional two years to remain in the U.S. while pursuing their immigration cases. They could also be eligible to receive permits allowing them to work legally.
Alondra, a 16-year old from Guatemala, worked at a seafood processing plant through a staffing agency that is under investigation by the Labor Department. The Public’s Radio is not using Alondra’s full name because of her current legal status.
Alondra was told to leave her job at the seafood processing plant by “someone from the government.” She is currently waiting to receive a work permit after applying for prosecutorial discretion.
“I need to pay for all the things you need to live here,” Alondra said. “It leaves me sad.”
Approximately 203 workers have applied for prosecutorial discretion and 57 of them have been approved, according to Jennifer Velarde, a local immigration attorney assisting in these cases. It is uncertain how many of the workers who applied are minors.
Who’s responsible?
Current and former regulators say that labor law violations are more common in industries that rely on staffing agencies and immigrant workers. In February, the Biden Administration said enforcing child labor laws requires holding both companies and the staffing agencies they hire accountable.
According to Nancy Leppink, a former administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, companies that hire temporary staffing agencies are still responsible for complying with labor laws.
“Simply engaging a temp agency does not relieve an employer of their legal responsibilities,” Leppink said. “In fact, it may mean that they need to ensure that the temporary agencies that they’re engaging in are in compliance with the law.”
The maximum fine for a child labor violation is $15,138, per child, an amount that Leppink and other labor experts say is too low to change business practices.
“You’re moving into a purely cost benefit consideration,” she said.