Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
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U.S. Department of Labor |
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Baton Rouge, La., amusement enterprise to pay more than $25,000 in civil money penalties for child labor violations following US Labor Department investigation
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The U.S. Department of Labor has assessed $25,295 in civil money penalties against Blue Bayou Waterpark LLC and Dixie Landin’ LLC, two Baton Rouge amusement complexes that constitute one enterprise and are owned by Samuel B. Haynes Jr., after an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s child labor provisions.
“The laws and regulations for young workers are very specific and employers in violation will be penalized,” said Cynthia Watson, regional administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. “This employer, which hires hundreds of Baton Rouge-area minors during the summer months, must comply with the regulations and restrictions that apply.”
The investigation by the division’s Baton Rouge District Office reviewed attendance and payroll records for hundreds of minors, covering a two-year period from March 23, 2009, to March 22, 2011. Investigators found that 49 minors, ages 14 and 15, were allowed to work more than eight hours per day in violation of the FLSA.
The employer has agreed to comply with the FLSA in the future, provide time clocks or timesheets at all of the recreation establishments’ workstations, structure employee schedules in a manner that will minimize the likelihood of minors working more than eight hours a day, and ensure that managers monitor minors’ work hours to avoid any potential violations.
Under the FLSA, workers under age 16 are subject to specific time and occupation restrictions. Fourteen- and 15-year-olds may work in certain occupations outside school hours, but not before 7 a.m. or later than 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day). They may not work more than three hours on a school day or eight hours on a nonschool day. They may not work more than 18 hours in a school week or 40 hours in a week when school is not in session.
For more information about the child labor regulations, call the Wage and Hour Division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or its New Orleans District Office at 504-589-6171. Information is also available on the Internet at http://www.youthrules.dol.gov.
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