Federal court order requires Tennessee sawmill to pay $73K in penalties, turn over $10K in profits for endangering children at work

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Federal court order requires Tennessee sawmill to pay $73K in penalties, turn over $10K in profits for endangering children at work

Department of Labor investigators find Plateau Sawmill employed children illegally

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CLARKRANGE, TN - The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent decree requiring a Clarkrange lumber producer to stop violating federal child labor regulations, pay penalties for their violations and surrender profits earned for products made while violations occurred.

Entered in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on July 15, 2024, the consent decree comes after the department's Wage and Hour Divisionfound Plateau Sawmill LLC employed two children - as young as 14-years-old - at the sawmill to unload wooden boards from a conveyor belt in violation of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 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.

The sawmill operator was ordered to pay $73,847 in civil money penalties for its child labor violations. The sawmill operator was also ordered to surrender $10,000 in profits earned between May 26 and June 26, 2024. These funds will be used to benefit the children employed illegally.

"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."

In addition to paying civil money penalties, disgorging profits and agreeing to comply with federal child labor regulations in the future, Plateau Sawmill agreed to do the following:

• 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."

In fiscal year 2023, 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.

Based in Clarkrange, Plateau Sawmill was founded in 2015 and has about nine employees.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including child labor regulations on dangerous jobs that are prohibitedfor workers under age 18.

The division offers confidential compliance assistance to anyone - regardless of where they are from- with questions about their wages or how to stay in compliance with the law by calling the agency's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

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