Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division has assessed $10,670 in civil money penalties against DLJ Enterprises Inc. doing business as Altr-Eco Pallets of Maryville, Tenn., for allowing an employee under the age of 18 to operate power-driven machinery in violation of the youth employment provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Wage and Hour investigated the company after most of a 17-year-old employee’s hand was accidentally amputated while she operated a circular saw and notcher machine at the Maryville pallet manufacturing facility. The accident occurred March 24, 2004.

“Operating power-driven machinery is hazardous work --- too hazardous for workers under the age of 18,” said Carol Merchant, Wage and Hour’s district director in Nashville.

The Fair Labor Standards Act identifies nearly a dozen occupations or industries banned for minors under the age of 18 by the Secretary of Labor’s Hazardous Occupations Orders.

The Labor Department has a YouthRules! web site, www.youthrules.dol.gov, to educate employers, young workers and parents about youth employment, the jobs they may perform and the hours they may work.

For further information about FLSA requirements, call the department’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243), visit the department’s web site at www.wagehour.dol.gov, or contact the Knoxville district office located in the John J. Duncan Federal Building, 710 Locust St., Room 101; phone: (865) 545-4619.

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