Minor who died in poultry plant accident got the job with the identity of a 32-year-old
NBC News is capping a yearlong investigation of U.S. child labor with the documentary “Slaughterhouse Children,” which includes new information on the death of Duvan Pérez.
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A minor who died in a poultry plant accident got the job with the identity of a 32-year-old, company confirms
NBC News is capping a yearlong investigation of U.S. child labor with the documentary “Slaughterhouse Children,” which includes new information on the death of Duvan Pérez.02:25 /16:05 {FULL VIDEO ON SITE}
Dec. 18, 2023, 6:02 AM EST
By Laura Strickler, Julia Ainsley and Didi Martinez
A 16-year-old employee who died after getting sucked into equipment at a Mississippi poultry plant got the job using the identity of a 32-year-old man, a new revelation that highlights the ease with which migrant children are finding work in a dangerous industry, and the challenges companies face in trying to evaluate their true ages.
Duvan Pérez, who was hired to clean up at Mar-Jac Poultry in Hattiesburg, which supplies chicken to companies like Chick-fil-A, died on July 14. Within hours of his death, questions about his true age were raised by a local Facebook news site, and he was soon determined to be 16.
It’s illegal for minors to work in slaughterhouses, which the Occupational Safety and Health Administration considers among the most perilous workplaces in the country.
Duvan Pérez, 16, attended middle school in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, while working the night shift at a nearby poultry plant.@fk0_xxz via Tiktok
The number of children working illegally has skyrocketed across all industries, according to the Labor Department, nearly doubling since 2019. More than 800 child labor investigations in 47 states are ongoing across industries, according to the agency.
NBC News is capping a yearlong investigation into child labor in America with a new documentary called “Slaughterhouse Children,” based on reporting in two countries and six states, dozens of interviews and the review of thousands of pages of public records, accident reports and internal corporate documents.
See more NBC News reporting on children working in slaughterhouses in the U.S.
During research for the documentary, Mar-Jac confirmed to NBC News that Perez had used the identity of a man in his 30s.
Shown a picture of the 16-year-old, Mar-Jac attorney Larry Stine said Perez did not look like a 32-year-old man. “But he might have looked 18,” said Stine, who has represented the Georgia-based company since the 1990s.
Mar-Jac blamed the hiring of the teenager on a staffing company that supplies workers to the plant.
A truck hauling chickens moves into Mar-Jac Poultry.Laura Strickler / NBC News
Asked if the company was surprised to learn that Perez was 16, Stine said, “Yes, they were surprised, that I can tell you. They were surprised and somewhat horrified.”
Pérez’s family did not respond to a request for comment on his use of an adult’s identity.
Stolen identities
At least nine times in the past three years, American citizens have complained to the Hattiesburg Police Department and sometimes to Mar-Jac that their identities were stolen and being used by Mar-Jac workers, according to police reports obtained via public information requests.
Pérez, from Guatemala, died while cleaning equipment at the Mar-Jac Poultry plant in Hattiesburg.Duvan Pérez via Facebook
One person told police in 2021 that they tried to apply for unemployment in Florida but were told their identity was being used by an employee at Mar-Jac. A police report quotes the complainant’s email saying, “I called Mar-Jac poultry to notify them and was told by [redacted], the HR supervisor that I couldn’t do anything without a police report and he couldn’t help me in any way.”
Another person called local police in 2022 saying she was unable to get child care assistance in Texas because her identity was being used by a Mar-Jac worker. “[Redacted] stated she’s never lived outside of the state of Texas,” the police report said. “She contacted HR at Mar-Jac and was informed that they couldn’t give her any information and to contact the police department.”
Mar-Jac said it has reviewed its entire workforce and does not believe that it is employing anyone under 18. Stine said the company is limited in how much scrutiny it can apply to the documentation beyond the government’s E-Verify system: “Under the way the rules are set up, we’re limited. They gave us this documentation, we cannot look into it.”
Mar-Jac Poultry in Hattiesburg.Laura Strickler / NBC News
The Labor Department maintains that it is up to the companies to conduct due diligence when hiring workers to determine if they are legally old enough to do the job.
After Pérez’s death, the Labor Department launched an investigation into how Mar-Jac hired a teenager and a separate OSHA investigation into the accident itself. Both investigations remain ongoing.
In September, OSHA appealed to Mar-Jac employees in a press release to reach out to the agency to discuss the circumstances around Pérez’s death, noting that federal law protects the rights of workers to participate in a Labor Department investigation.
The Department of Homeland Security is supporting the OSHA investigation, according to a DHS spokesperson. Stine said, “Mar-Jac is unaware of any involvement by DHS.”
In an email, Stine said, “Mar-Jac thoroughly investigated the accident and has not found any errors committed by its safety or human resources employees. It has learned many lessons from the accident and has taken aggressive steps to prevent the occurrence of another accident or hiring underage workers.”
If a company is found to have violated child labor laws, the maximum fine is $15,138 per instance.
Asked if the potential fines affect how a company does business, Stine said, “I think the publicity of having something like that is far worse than the penalty. Nobody wants to be seen to have been hiring a child.”
Pérez was the second person to die after getting entangled in equipment at the plant in the past two years.
Mar-Jac Poultry in Hattiesburg. Laura Strickler / NBC News
Pérez’s uncle Gildardo Pérez told Telemundo he was unaware of the risks of the job and might have spoken up if he had known. “Perhaps we would have prevented it, but we never knew if it was a dangerous job.”
A representative for Chick-fil-A, which buys chicken from Mar-Jac, said in a statement, “We are reviewing our own procedures for investigation and response as we pursue the steps necessary to effectively hold all our suppliers to our high safety standards.”
A Mar-Jac worker who said they work legally for the company and asked to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their job said representatives of Chick-fil-A come and visit the plant. “Supervisors advise us to please do the work well because the bosses from Chick-fil-A will pass through to check the work,” the worker said.
Plant employees also receive a coupon for a free Chick-fil-A sandwich once a year, the worker said.
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