An Aurora facility for meal-kit delivery service Factor75, owned by HelloFresh, is under federal investigation for allegedly working with underage migrants, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed.
Cristobal Cavazos, an activist with the suburban group Immigrant Solidarity DuPage who helped report the alleged violations to federal authorities, told ABC News that several teenagers, some of whom immigrated from Guatemala, were working nights at the facility run by Midway Staffing, a Hillside, IL-based temporary staffing agency.
A HelloFresh spokesperson would not confirm the number of underage workers employed at the facility. Midway Staffing and Immigrant Solidarity DuPage didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.
Scott Allen, a spokesperson for the labor department, told the Sun-Times HelloFresh and its staffing facility Midway Staffing are both under investigation by the department’s wage and hour division. He didn’t provide details, including how long the investigation has been open.
German-based HelloFresh, founded in 2011, is the largest meal-kit delivery service in the world, with over 1 billion meals delivered across 18 countries, according to the company’s website. Factor75, also known as Factor, was launched in 2013 and acquired by HelloFresh in 2020.
HelloFresh has severed ties with Midway Staffing upon hearing of the allegations, a spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“We have strict protocols in place to ensure all vendors follow our robust global ethics and compliance policies,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for any form of child labor, and we have taken action to ensure no minors perform work in or have access to our facilities.”
Midway Staffing was only providing staff for Factor75, not HelloFresh as a whole, the spokesperson said. HelloFresh and Factor75 haven’t “hired, converted or otherwise employed” underage workers, she said.
Young workers are more likely to be hurt or killed on the job, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other food companies have faced investigations and lawsuits related to child labor, including Hearthside Food Solutions in Downers Grove, which settled a state investigation last week for $4.5 million. Hearthside is a contract manufacturing company that provides food to other companies. It was named in a New York Times investigation into child migrant labor last year and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November, but said the bankruptcy filing wasn’t related to the labor allegations, which the company denies.
The New York Times investigation found many migrant children who came to the U.S. alone were expected to send money home and found work on construction sites and in factories, slaughterhouses or commercial laundromats. Many faced serious injuries or were killed on the job, the investigation found.