The Fair Labor Standards Act set the minimum age for employment at 14 years old for non-agricultural jobs, restricts the hours youth under the age of 16 may work, and prohibits youth under the age of 18 from being employed in hazardous occupations. Therefore, based on these laws it is illegal for minors to work in slaughterhouses. Sadly, the number of children working illegally has skyrocketed. But that doesn’t mean companies aren’t trying to comply with labor laws. It’s just that H.R. departments can only be as good as the documents that are provided to verify employment eligibility. And with fraudsters at the ready with stolen identities and laminators, more often than not, the documents win. At least that is what Mar-Jac Poultry Plant claims.
In December of 2023, Mar-Jac announced that sixteen-year-old Duvan Perez died on the job after getting sucked into equipment at the poultry plant. Perez had used the identity of a man in his 30s. 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.”
While this is the first death of an employee using a stolen identity, it is not Mar-Jac’s first rodeo with stolen identity. At least nine times in the past three years, American citizens have complained to Mar-Jac (and the Hattiesburg Police Department) that their identities were stolen and being used by Mar-Jac workers, according to police reports obtained via public information requests. One person told police that they tried to apply for unemployment in Florida but were told their identity was being used by an employee at Mar-Jac. Another person called local police saying she was unable to get childcare assistance in Texas because her identity was being used by a Mar-Jac worker. Unfortunately, the victims don’t have answers. Mar-Jac said to call the police. The police said to call Mar-Jac. Someone needs identity verification and authentication solutions!
Kudos to the federal investigators!
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “A minor who died in a poultry plant accident got the job with the identity of a 32-year-old, company confirms” published by NBC News on December 18, 2023
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.
