Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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BOSTON -- The U.S. Department of Labor has fined a Laconia, N.H., restaurant and its owners $28,600 in civil money penalties for violations of the youth employment provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

A recent reinvestigation by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division revealed that EG’s Homeward Bound Corporation, doing business as the Tamarack Restaurant at 691 Endicott St. North, illegally employed minors under the age of 14 and allowed those under 16 to work later or for longer hours than permitted by federal law.

According to George Rioux, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in northern New England, the employer was cited for illegally employing 32 minors. These included nine 13-year-olds employed in violation of the minimum age requirement and twenty-three 14- and 15-year-olds who worked too late in the day, too many hours per day or too many hours per week. Some of the 13-year-olds were also employed in violation of the time standards.

The FLSA prohibits 14- and 15-year-olds from working more than three hours a day on school days; more than 18 hours per week in school weeks; more than eight hours a day on non-school days; more than 40 hours per week when school is not in session. Also, 14- and 15-year-olds may not work before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day when their permissible hours are extended to 9:00 p.m.

“What makes this case particularly disturbing,” said Rioux, “is that this employer had been previously investigated and fined for employing minors in violation of the law.”

Tamarack Restaurant and its owners, Ed and Nancy El-Far, have now agreed to come into full compliance with FLSA requirements for employing youth and to pay the assessed penalty in installments with a final payment by Sept. 30, 2005.

For more information regarding the youth employment and other provisions of the FLSA, call the Labor Department’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or contact the northern New England district office of the Wage and Hour Division at 603-666-7716. Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov and www.youthrules.dol.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.