Mississippi Poultry Plant Employer Hit with $212,646 Proposed Fine for Teen Worker Death

The United States Department of Labor has proposed $212,646 in fines against Mar-Jac Poultry for health and safety violations that led to the death of a teenage worker. Many Mississippi residents are familiar with the case that led to the assessment of the fines against Mar-Jac Poultry, as it hit online newspapers and television news channels in viral fashion last year. If you are unfamiliar with the horrific death of the teenage worker at the poultry employer, the story is a tragic one. On July 14, 2023, a 16-year-old Mar-Jac Poultry sanitation worker was pulled into a machine used for deboning chicken and was killed on shift. According to local news reports, the teen’s death was not the first at the Mississippi Mar-Jac Poultry plant, but was, in fact the second death of a worker within a just-over two-year period. The earlier workplace accident at Mar-Jac Poultry was equally as harrowing: in 2021, an adult worker got his shirt sleeve caught in a different machine at the poultry plant, and was killed. Of the two inexcusable and horrific deaths, Occupational Safety and Health Administration regional administrator Kurt Petermeyer said, “Following the fatal incident in May 2021 Mar-Jac Poultry should have enforced strict safety standards in its facility…Only about two years later nothing has changed and the company continues to treat employee safety as an afterthought, putting its workers at risk. No worker should be placed in a preventable, dangerous situation, let alone a child.” In contrast, an attorney for Mar-Jac told news reporters that Mar-Jac had “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.”

Justice for the Families of Mississippi Workers Killed on the Job

It is important for Mississippi families to understand their rights and options when it comes to financial compensation for the loss of a family member killed on the job. Under Mississippi workers’ compensation death benefits laws, certain dependent family members of workers killed in workplace accidents may be entitled to Mississippi wrongful death benefits. Although nothing can replace the loss of a loved one killed in a workplace accident, Mississippi wrongful death benefits can help Mississippi families financially, so it is important to learn about your rights and options as soon as possible after a workplace death has occurred.

If you lost a loved one to a workplace accident in Mississippi, get legal help now. The experienced Mississippi workers’ compensation lawyers at Lunsford Baskin & Priebe, PLLC offer a free and confidential consultation to learn about your workers’ compensation case and to see if they can help you get Mississippi workers’ compensation benefits or death benefits due to you. Contact the experienced Mississippi workers’ compensation lawyers at Lunsford Baskin & Priebe, PLLC today and speak to a lawyer about your entitlement to Mississippi workers’ compensation benefits for free.

Source:

cnn.com/2024/01/16/business/second-teen-worker-killed-marc-jac-poultry-dol-investigation/index.html