Boss Watch: 7/18 – 8/1

Jacob Morrison

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, July 18, and Friday, August 1

Alabama Child Abusers

The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court against an Alabama poultry processor requiring them to pay $385,000 in civil money penalties for federal child labor law violations and barring the employer from any future child labor violations. 

The agreement comes after the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Mar-Jac Poultry AL LLC violated several of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, including illegally employing minors, some as young as 13 years old. The employer permitted other minors to perform activities deemed hazardous and forbidden under federal law, such as operating a forklift, deboning and eviscerating poultry, and working on the kill floor.  

Investigators also discovered that Mar-Jac employed workers between 14 and 15 years old in occupations prohibited by child labor regulations. In addition, Mar-Jac employed workers between the ages of 14 and 15 to work outside of legally allowed hours, many on overnight shifts between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. These findings resulted in the employer agreeing to pay $385,000 in civil money penalties. 

“Mar-Jac Poultry has repeatedly been found to put young workers at risk, resulting in the tragic death of a child at their Mississippi facility in 2023,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “The U.S. Department of Labor will use all enforcement tools available to protect young workers and hold employers accountable if they repeatedly violate workers’ rights.”

The consent judgment, entered on May 21, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, requires Mar-Jac Poultry AL LLC to do the following:

  • Prevent children from working in any prohibited or hazardous occupations and prohibit hiring workers under 14 years old.
  • Require new workers to meet with shift managers in person before their first day of work.
  • Ensure hazardous equipment is properly marked with any age restrictions.
  • Place signs at facility entrances to indicate that workers must be at least 18 years old.
  • Keep a record for each worker detailing wages, hours, and other conditions of work, and include date of birth for all employees under 19 years of age.
  • Hire a third-party compliance specialist for three years to monitor compliance with federal child labor laws; give quarterly child labor compliance training to all managers; and provide annual reports summarizing actions taken to comply with federal child labor laws.
  • Update management training programs, training materials, and onboarding materials to include information regarding FLSA compliance.
  • Impose disciplinary sanctions against management for child labor violations or retaliation against any employee that reports suspected child labor violations.
  • Permit the Wage and Hour Division to enter its facilities during any shift without a warrant and produce requested documents within 72 hours without requiring a subpoena, for a period of three years.

The department previously investigated Mar-Jac after a 16-year-old worker was fatally caught in a machine while cleaning it. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division in 2023 found that Mar-Jac employed three 14- and 15-year-olds in prohibited occupations and had them work longer than legally allowed. Four minor-aged workers were also allowed to operate power-driven meat-processing machines and were involved in slaughtering as well as meat and poultry packing. As a result of these findings, Mar-Jac was assessed $150,000 in civil money penalties.

Alabama Discriminators

Delaware-based vehicle manufacturer Polaris Industries, Inc. will pay $55,000 and provide other injunctive relief to settle charges of pregnancy discrimination in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in connection with practices at Polaris’s Huntsville, Alabama facility, the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Polaris penalized an employee for pregnancy-related absences and medical appointments. The company also required her to work mandatory overtime despite direction from her physician that she not work over 40 hours per week during her pregnancy. Polaris told the employee that it would terminate her if she accumulated additional attendance points for any reason. Faced with choosing between her job and the health of her unborn child, the employee felt no choice but to resign.

Such alleged conduct violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees who have communicated limitations arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Polaris Industries, Inc., Case No. 5:24-cv-1305) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama after its Birmingham District office completed an investigation and first attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.

The consent decree settling the case requires Polaris to pay the employee $55,000 in lost earnings and compensatory damages. Additionally, the two-year decree requires Polaris to take steps to prevent future discrimination by improving their policies and practices and by training their employees on the PWFA.

Texas Discriminators

HSS Security, LLC, a company that provides security services to hospitals in Texas, will pay $35,000 and provide other relief to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

In the lawsuit, the EEOC charged that after initially offering a highly qualified female applicant a job as a security supervisor, HSS Security unlawfully rescinded the offer and refused to hire her because of her sex. According to the EEOC, the evidence showed that the female applicant possessed more than the requisite qualifications for the position.

After the female applicant accepted the job offer, two male HSS Security managers took issue with her hiring upon meeting her. Although she assured them of her skills and abilities and described her actual experience in such situations, the managers denied her employment. The company later offered the security supervisor position to two male applicants, neither of whom was more qualified than the female applicant.

Such alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against job applicants and employees based on their sex. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

On July 7, the district court entered a consent decree resolving the litigation. In addition to $35,000 in damages, the three-year decree requires HSS Security to train its hiring managers, recruiters and human resources personnel annually on federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination; revise its equal employment opportunity policies and procedures to address workplace discrimination; post notices to employees of their right to work free of discrimination; and report to the EEOC all complaints of discrimination in hiring that the company receives during the three-year term of the decree.

Missouri Discriminators

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and against Omaha, Nebraska-based Werner Trucking on July 10.

The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged Werner violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it refused to hire a qualified deaf truck driver because he was deaf. In September 2023, a Nebraska jury agreed and awarded $75,000 in compensatory damages and $36 million in punitive damages. The U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska entered judgment in favor of EEOC, reducing the jury’s award to the statutory cap of $300,000 and awarding back pay and prejudgment interest. The district court also ordered injunctive relief requiring Werner to report certain information about deaf applicants to the EEOC.

Werner appealed to the circuit court, arguing the district court erred by: granting a directed verdict on the issue of causation; granting summary judgment in EEOC’s favor on certain affirmative defenses; making several adverse evidentiary rulings against Werner; denying Werner’s motions for judgment as a matter of law; granting injunctive relief, and awarding prejudgment interest.

The appellate decision caps almost seven years of litigation. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska in 2018. As in all EEOC cases, the agency first attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

Union Busters

Brought to you by LaborLab: The nation’s leading watchdog standing with working families to stop employer coercion and intimidation. Visit www.laborlab.us for more info.

Here are the new filings from this week:

As a reminder, due to a lack of enforcement, some labor relations consultants may disregard the law and fail to report their activities to the U.S. Department of Labor. Therefore, it’s crucial for organizers and workers to report suspected “persuader” activity to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).

It’s crucial for organizers and workers to report suspected “persuader” activity to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS). You can reach them via email at  OLMS-Public@dol.gov, by calling (202) 693-0123, or by contacting your nearest OLMS District Office.

For assistance, please contact LaborLab at contact@laborlab.us.