Friday, October 22, 1999
Americana park fined $13,000
Teens worked too long, too late
BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MONROE — Americana Amusement Park has paid a fine of nearly $13,000 for violating child labor laws over the past two summers, officials at the U.S. Department of Labor said.
Investigators found that Americana violated the Fair Labor Standards Act from July 1998, through July 1999. Nineteen 15-year-olds were allowed to work more and/or later hours than permitted by law. The report was released this week.
Labor Department officials said the fine is unusually high, but there's nothing unusual about such offenses.
Violations are discovered during 50 percent to 75 percent of all new child labor investigations conducted annually by the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, said Don Harrison, assistant district director of the division.
“That's not an acceptable percentage,” Mr. Harrison said. “And it's often not just an oversight. It's a pattern.”
Part of the problem is an inadequate labor pool. But violating the child labor laws could be a costly way to do business, because the companies face fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Most fines average about $5,000 total, but some have reached hundreds of thousands of dollars, Mr. Harrison said.
Businesses most likely to have child labor law problems include restaurants, stores, amusement parks and entertainment facilities.
“These companies are desperate to get workers,” Mr. Harrison said. “And they're hiring younger workers with the expectation, unfortunately, that they can help them out and do whatever job is necessary, without thinking of whether or not they're in compliance with the law. And when they do employ youths, they tend to let them work too many hours.” Sometimes the violations are oversights, he said.
Tom Rhein, Americana's vice president of operations, said Americana is among many Tristate companies with a constant employment challenge.
“You have fewer people interested in having a job, and those that are interested in having a job want to work less hours,” Mr. Rhein said. “Yes, people are wondering where the work force is going to come from. But that's not a reason to go out and violate those laws. I'm disappointed that it happened here ... we've vowed it won't happen again. We just have to be very vigilant.”
The labor department's investigation was done as part of an annual sweep, usually averaging 25-40 businesses, plus others that stem from complaints. Some investigations are continuing and fines against other companies are pending.
“We're going to put the minors in different color uniforms, put them in set schedules so they can only work for X amount of hours and times,” Mr. Rhein said.
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