Plateau Sawmill in Fentress County ordered to turn over $10K in profits
According to a release by the U.S. Department of Labor, it obtained a “federal consent decree” requiring Plateau Sawmill LLC (Plateau), a lumber producer founded in 2015 and based in Clarkrange, to stop violating federal child labor regulations, pay penalties for their violations and surrender profits earned for products made while violations occurred.
Plateau employs about nine people in the area.
The decree was entered into the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on July 15, 2024. According to the release, the department’s Wage and Hour Division says Plateau employed two children as young as 14 years old to unload wooden boards from a conveyor belt.
That is a violation of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the report.
“In addition, the sawmill employed a 13-year-old, which violated the FLSA’s minimum age standard of 14 years for non-agricultural work. Investigators learned the three children worked as early as 6 a.m., an hour earlier than the law permits,” according to the release.
The sawmill operator was ordered to pay $73,847 in civil money penalties for its child labor violations and to surrender $10,000 in profits earned between May 26 and June 26, 2024. Funds will benefit the children employed illegally, according to the release.
“Federal labor laws protect children from being employed in dangerous jobs. By employing minors to do hazardous work, Plateau Sawmill put children at risk of serious harm or worse,” said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “Once we learned of the employer’s violations, the Department of Labor acted immediately to hold the company accountable for failing to protect these children.”
Plateau agreed to comply with federal child labor regulations in the future and with these penalties:
- Paying civil money penalties
- disgorging profits as well as agreeing to
- Audit machinery at all of its establishments to identify equipment deemed hazardous by the FLSA, and mark the identified equipment with stickers to alert employees that no one under 18 can operate it.
- Review and enhance existing policies and training materials related to compliance with federal child labor regulations. The employer must also revise its policies, training materials and programs for management, employees and new hires as it on-boards them at any owned establishment.
- Impose disciplinary sanctions to include termination or suspension for any manager responsible for child labor violations or retaliation against any employee reporting suspected violations.
- Allow unannounced and warrantless inspections for five years.
- Refrain from taking retaliatory actions against employees, including family members, for filing a complaint related to FLSA concerns.
“This consent decree holds Plateau Sawmill accountable while also discouraging future violations,” said Regional Solicitor Tremelle Howard in Atlanta. “We’ve seen an alarming rise of child labor violations in recent years across the nation. The action announced today sends a clear message that we will not tolerate companies profiting on the backs of children employed unlawfully in dangerous occupations.”
Last year the department investigated 955 cases with child labor violations, involving 5,792 children nationwide, including 502 children employed in violation of hazardous occupation standards. The department addressed those violations by assessing employers more than $8 million in civil money penalties. For more information visit HERE and HERE.
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