Illegally employed 16-year-old amputated in workplace incident
The owners of Clarksburg Supermarket in Tennessee is being charged for child labor violations which led to amputation for one of the teenagers working for them.
On the day of the incident, the company had two 16-year-old employees cleaning a meat grinder at the work site.
As one boy reached inside the machine, the grinder started and amputated the teenager’s right forearm.
The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division assessed a $65,289 penalty on Terry Altom and Kenneth Lovell under the Child Labor Enhanced Penalty Program.
“Protecting our youngest workers and keeping them safe in the workplace is one of the department’s top priorities,” said Pamela Sullivan, wage and hour division acting district director in Nashville, Tennessee.
“The severe injury suffered by this minor is a reminder of what can happen when children are permitted to operate hazardous equipment in violation of the law. Employers have an obligation to ensure minors are not performing tasks that could be harmful, which is why these child labor rules were established. A young man’s life is forever and tragically changed because that did not happen in the case.”
The child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ban employers from employing minors under age 18 to operate power-driven meat processing machines, such as slicers, saws and meat choppers. The ban also prohibits minors from cleaning the equipment and its parts, whether assembled or disassembled.
Previously, Adrian, Missouri employer MFA Enterprises Inc. – operating as West Central Agri Services – was cited for one willful and six serious safety violations after one of its employees was seriously injured from an explosion in the workplace.
The division also found that Clarksburg Supermarket failed to pay overtime to one worker who worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, another violation of the FLSA. The employer paid $5,107 in back wages to the employee to resolve this issue.
Recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ordered CSX Transportation to pay $71,976 in back wages, interest, and damages, and $150,000 in punitive damages, after it fired in December 2019 an employee who reported safety concerns.
