Matters Management

The U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint on May 30, 2024, asking a federal court to prevent three Alabama companies, including a Hyundai U.S. assembly and manufacturing plant, from employing children illegally. The complaint also requests that the court require the three companies to surrender profits related to the use of oppressive child labor.

The action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found that a 13-year-old worked up to 50-60 hours per week on an assembly line in Luverne, Alabama operating machines that formed sheet metal into auto body parts. In the complaint filed in federal court, the department named three companies as defendants, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC, SMART Alabama LLC and Best Practice Service, LLC. Best Practice Service sent the child to SMART Alabama, which provided component parts to Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. In the complaint, the department alleged that all three companies jointly employed the child.

Penalty:$1,964,450

SALT LAKE CITY – A federal judge has upheld an assessment by the U.S. Department of Labor of $1,964,450 in civil money penalties against Paragon Contractors Corp. and its owner Brian Jessop.

The ruling by the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges is the latest action in long-standing litigation by the department’s Office of the Solicitor against the employers, prompted by their lengthy history of child labor violations. The judge also held Paragon’s successor in interest, Par 2 Contractors LLC, liable for the penalty amount.

In 2012, investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Paragon, Jessop, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and others had employed more than 200 children – including more than 100 under the age of 12 – to harvest pecans on a ranch in Utah during school hours, in violation of child labor provisions in the Fair Labor Standard Act. In past litigation, the department has successfully obtained contempt orders and back wages and other relief totaling more than $1 million.

Penalty:$11,000

CROSSVILLE, TN – The owner of 20 Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries locations has entered an enhanced compliance agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor that aims to improve working conditions for minor-aged employees and compliance with federal labor regulations at their 20 locations in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

The agreement comes after the department’s Wage and Hour Division investigated The Little Mint Inc. – operating as Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries in Crossville – and determined the employer employed 13 children to work after 7 p.m. between Labor Day and June 1 and more than three hours during a school day, both violations of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition, the employer employed a 15-year-old to use manual fryers for cooking fries, a prohibited task for workers under the age of 16.

Penalty:$48,251

Investigation findings

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found teens working at a Troy Popeyes franchise in violation of hours allowed by the Fair Labor Standards Act’s child labor standards.

The investigation disclosed a total of 63 teens – ages 14 and 15 – worked more than 18 hours when school was in session and/or worked past 7 p.m. before June 1 and past 9 p.m. between June 1 and Labor Day.

Resolution

The division assessed the employer $48,251 in civil money penalties for the violations.

Organization: The Exclusive Poultry, Meza Poultry, Valtierra Poultry, Sullon Poultry or Nollus’s Poultry

Child Labor violations

The department's 'investigation determined that the company directed employees under 18 to use sharp knives to debone poultry and employed them to work longer than legally allowed, and at times did not allow them to attend school.

Retaliation

The department also found that the organization threatend retaliation against employees for cooperating with the investigation.

If you worked for any of the above listed organizations between Aug 1, 2020 and Sept. 28 2023

“These employers endangered children, stole their wages and threatened them with retaliation if they spoke to investigators about their illegal activity.”

Penalty:$16,795

Investigation findings

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Res-Care Workforce Services violated the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act when it employed nine minors aged 14 and 15 outside of permitted hours. Permissible hours for 14- and 15-year-olds are no more than 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day, or 40 hours in a non-school week. Also, work may not begin before 7 a.m., nor end after 7 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when evening hours are extended to 9 p.m.

The division found additional child labor violations when the employer permitted a minor to load wood onto the platform of a log splitter and operate an ATV and power-driven weed-eater; allowed two minors to operate a pole saw and clean parts of a meat slicer; and permitted one minor to operate a chain saw and a pole saw, which resulted in a non-serious injury.