A Georgia poultry company that operates a Hattiesburg plant where a teenage temporary worker died has been placed again on a national list of unsafe and reckless employers.
Mar-Jac Poultry was named one of the “Dirty Dozen” in a Thursday report by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. It made the list last year, too. Other companies on the list are in areas including agriculture, retail, health care, fast food, strip clubs, food manufacturing and private prisons.
“These companies have failed to eliminate known, preventable hazards – risking lives through negligence, and in at least one case, actively opposing stronger worker protections,” the report states.
Themes of the “Dirty Dozen” report are sudden workplace trauma, heat exposure and immigrant labor. The report’s release coincides with Workers Memorial Week, which is from April 23 to May 1.
Three workers have died in Mar-Jac facilities since 2020, including 16-year-old Duvan Pérez at its Hattiesburg processing plant in 2023.
While cleaning a deboning machine, he was caught in a rotating shaft and pulled in, according to an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Federal labor laws don’t allow those under the age of 18 to work in meat processing because of dangerous machinery.
A February 2023 wrongful death lawsuit filed by Pérez’s family alleges that a temporary staffing agency assigned him to complete work that he was legally unable to do due to his age. The suit also alleges Mar-Jac had a history of worker safety issues.
In a statement after the teenager’s death, Mar-Jac said staffing companies are responsible for verifying employee’s age and identification, and an attorney for the company told NBC News last year that Pérez used identification of a 32-year-old man to get the job.
A jury trial for the lawsuit is scheduled for March 11, 2026, in Forrest County.
Last year, OSHA cited Mar-Jac for over $212,000 in penalties for multiple safety failures, including failure to protect from hazards like falls, machine entanglement and electrocution. Last summer, Mar-Jac settled with OSHA and agreed to pay nearly $165,000 in fines and implement safety measures.
At one of Mar-Jac’s Alabama plants, investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor found children working on the kill floor deboning poultry and cutting carcasses – some who had been working there for months.
Again, the company said the minors were hired with documents showing they were over 18 years old.
“Mar-Jac will continue to vigorously defend itself and expects to prevail in this matter,” the company said in a statement to ABC News. “Mar-Jac is committed to complying with all relevant law.”
