HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WHLT) – The family of a 16-year-old who died at a Hattiesburg poultry processing plant has filed a lawsuit against the plant’s owner, Mar-Jac Poultry MS, LLC.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday, February 1, 2024, alleges that 16-year-old Duvan Robert Tomas Perez was killed because the company willfully disregarded safety procedures at its Hattiesburg chicken processing plant, despite two other workers’ deaths in the last three years, multiple prior serious worker injuries and numerous previous OSHA citations, fines and penalties.

The underaged employee was killed at Mar-Jac Poultry on James Street around 8:00 p.m. on Friday, July 14, 2023.

The company was cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in January 2024.

According to federal safety investigators, 16-year-old Duvan Thomas Perez was killed when he was pulled into a machine while performing a deep clean of the deboning area at Mar-Jac. OSHA found that he was caught in the rotating shaft and sprockets before he was pulled in.

Investigators found that despite a manager’s supervision in and around the area, lockout/tagout procedures were not utilized to disconnect power to the machine and a lockout/tagout device was not used to prevent the machine from unintentionally starting during the cleaning.

OSHA has proposed $212,646 in penalties, an amount set by federal statute. In addition to OSHA’s investigation, the department’s Wage and Hour Division has an open child labor investigation and the matter is currently pending.

“These working conditions have to change. Chick-fil-A is one of Mar-Jac’s largest customers. It and other Mar-Jac customers should insist on better working conditions or stop doing business with them,” said Attorney Seth Hunter, who added, “Perez was hardworking and loved his family. One of the things he was most proud of was paying for his first car himself. It is a tragedy that this young life was taken when his death was easily preventable.”