Contractor fined over minors' work
 Labor department says 3 youths were illegally employed
 
Deseret Morning News
 
A contractor in Hildale, Washington County, has been assessed a $10,395 penalty by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division for illegally employing three minors.

The department said Wednesday that Paragon Contractors Corp. employed the three in violation of the youth employment provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The department said an investigation by its Wage and Hour Division's Salt Lake district office showed that two minors, 12 and 13 years of age, worked in violation of the 14-year age minimum for non-agricultural employment. The same two minors and a 15-year-old were working on a residential home construction site in violation of the regulatory occupation standards for minors under 16 years of age, it said.

The three were found working on a roof, a hazardous occupation prohibited for workers under 18, the department said. The 15-year-old was operating a table saw, also a violation of the hazardous occupation restrictions for those under 18, it said.

In addition, the investigation disclosed that the firm failed to pay the three minors for their work, the department said. The employer agreed to pay a total of $3,296 in back wages for the FLSA minimum wage violations, the department said.

Paragon has filed an exception to the assessment of the civil money penalties, and the case will proceed to a hearing before a Department of Labor administrative law judge.

Department regulations contain 17 hazardous occupations prohibited for workers under 18, including roofing and operating power-driven circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears.

The basic minimum age for employment in non-agricultural occupations is 14. Fourteen- and 15 year-olds may work outside school hours, but not before 7 a.m. and no later than 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 until Labor Day). They may not work more than three hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week, or eight hours on a non-school day and 40 hours in a week when school is not in session.
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Friday, March 24, 2006
 
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