In the Rogers application, the Wage and Hour Division cited a tip from a teacher at a nearby school who reported that one of their 14-year-old students talked about working at the facility with his mother for the summer.
In the Green Forest application, a mother of middle schoolers overheard children between the ages of 11 and 13 talk about their employment at that plant on the night shift, which ran from 11 p.m. to around 7 or 8 a.m. The complainant said they were heard talking about how they did not know how to get money from their paycheck out of an ATM.
Investigators assigned in July conducted observations outside of both plants and watched workers entering and leaving. They found during the observations multiple people who appeared to be “potentially minor employees below the age of 16,” court docs said.
One of the investigators noted the children were believed to have been working in possibly hazardous conditions.
While this isn’t surprising, Green Forest in particular is a case where I’d be shocked if it wasn’t happening. I grew up in the area, and I’d say that half of the town are immigrants and the Tyson plant employs twice as many people than the rest of the town combined. Lots of poor families who are struggling to make ends meet would definitely be desperate enough to send their kids to work there.
It’s bad everywhere, but that plant in Green Forest is a particularly egregious case.