JGN Services, a roofing contracting company based in Lake Mary, Fla., has been fined $55,841 by the Wage and Hour Division for violating child labor regulations after a 15-year-old minor suffered severe head and spinal injuries due to a lack of federally required fall protection on a worksite.
The company was also cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for allowing the improper use of ladders and failing to train workers to recognize fall hazards, according to a March 10 news release. OSHA issued the company citations for three serious violations with $8,702 in penalties.
“Falls in construction continue to be a leading cause, and maybe one of the most preventable, for severe injury and death in the workplace,” Orlando Area Office Director Sarah Carle said in the release. “Employers must take every precaution – such as using fall protection and training workers to recognize hazards – to make sure their employees end their shifts safely.”
Three hazardous occupation orders of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act were violated by JGN, according to the Wage and Hour Division’s investigation, the release reported. Employers are banned from allowing minors under the age of 18 to perform roofing activities, engage in any work that requires the use of ladders or scaffolds and use any power-driven woodworking machines.
The investigators found the teen worked more than three hours on school days and more than 18 hours during school weeks, according to the release. JGN also failed to keep the minor’s date of birth on record, which was another child labor violation.
In addition to the child labor violations, the division found JGN Services misclassified some workers as independent contractors and did not pay employees overtime rates for hours above 40 hours in a work week, resulting in minimum wage and overtime FLSA violations, the release reported. As a result, the division recovered $106,600 in back wages and liquidated damages for 18 workers to resolve these violations.
