Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

Printer-Friendly Version

Press Releases

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has assessed R&G Foods, doing business as Rex’s Foodland in Chapel Hill, Tenn., $24,750 in penalties for allowing minors to work in violation of the youth employment provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“Younger employees can obtain valuable experience by working, but store owners and managers have to recognize that their younger workers cannot be exposed to hazardous activities or work an excessive number of hours,” said Carol Merchant, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Nashville.

Wage and Hour Division investigators found that 20 minors, some as young as 15 years old, loaded, operated and unloaded a paper baler at the store. The FLSA prohibits the employment of people under the age of 18 years in any non-agricultural occupations that the Labor Department has declared hazardous. These dangerous tasks are identified by 17 hazardous occupation orders, one of which requires that employees be at least 18 years old to operate or assist in operating power-driven paper products machines.

The division also determined that two workers under 16 years of age were employed in excess of the hours allowed under FLSA. Minors may not work more than three hours on school days, eight hours on nonschool days, 18 hours in school weeks or 40 hours during nonschool weeks. The regulations detail that 14- and 15-year-olds may work during non-school hours but no later than 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 until Labor Day).

The Labor Department has developed a Web site, www.youthrules.dol.gov, to educate employers, young workers, educators and parents about youth employment, the jobs youth may perform and the hours they may work. An interactive, Web-based, “e-laws advisor,” with detailed information about youth employment laws, may be accessed at www.dol.gov/elaws/advisors.html by selecting the “FLSA Child Labor Rules Advisor.”

For further information about FLSA requirements, call the department’s toll-free helpline at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243), visit the Wage and Hour Division Web site at www.wagehour.dol.gov; or contact the division’s Nashville District Office at 1321 Murfreesboro Road, Suite 511; phone: (615) 781-5344.

###

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.