Despite workers' deaths, poultry co. escaped fines for years

Find out how Mar Jac Poultry evaded penalties after two fatalities.

March 13, 2025 The Midwest Center For Investigative Reporting

Some fatal workplace violations go unpunished for years, leaving unsafe practices in place and workers at risk

In 2021, a Mississippi poultry worker lost his life on the job. OSHA issued a fine – but the company appealed, stalling enforcement.

Then, another worker died at the same plant while the case sat in limbo for another two years.

The plant, Mar-Jac Poultry in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was cited for failing to have proper safety procedures in place. But by appealing OSHA’s findings, the company was able to delay paying fines and making changes. It’s a common tactic — one that has contributed to a growing backlog of unresolved workplace safety violations.

In this week’s feature story, John McCracken dug into the little-known Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, which investigates appeals between companies and OSHA. John found that the average time for an appeal to be decided is now more than two years.

In fact, the commission did not review a single case in fiscal year 2024 because two of its three commissioner seats are vacant, leaving it short of a quorum.

Critics say the delay in appeal investigations allows companies to avoid making critical workplace changes.

“Employers see it as something that you drag it out for as long as you can, and while you're dragging it out, nothing is going to change inside the workplace,” said Elizabeth Walle, spokesperson for the worker safety advocacy group Food Chain Workers Alliance. “You're not going to make a change in the workplace until you absolutely are forced to.”

The future of the commission is now in the Trump administration’s hands as its sole member will reach term limits next month. Trump has gutted similar worker protection and labor commissions in recent weeks, with both the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission now unable to hold a quorum.

You can read John’s story here.

— Ben Felder, editor in chief

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