Despite rising child labor violations and new Senate demands to investigate the nation’s largest meat processor, the U.S. Department of Labor remains silent on whether it has the staff to conduct future probes amidst a major reduction in its workforce.

At a May 22 congressional hearing, newly appointed Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said 2,700 department employees have taken a deferred resignation program offered to nearly all federal employees as a part of Trump administration-led staff reductions. However, she said enforcement staff with the Wage and Hour Division, who are responsible for investigating child labor, are exempt from the program. ×

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