Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, November 8, and Friday, November 22
Kentucky Child Abusers
The U.S. Department of Labor has found a franchisee of two Marco’s Pizza restaurants in Knoxville employed children to clean and disassemble dangerous equipment and work outside of legally allowed hours, in violation of federal child labor laws.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Deliver Magic LLC, Deliver Magic II LLC and owner Stephen Petrone – operating as Marco’s Pizza on Maynardsville Pike and Ebenezer Road – employed 20 children to disassemble and clean dough sheeters, a violation of a child labor hazardous occupation order under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer also employed 15-year-olds in cooking and baking activities, both prohibited under federal child labor laws for children under the age of 16.
In addition, the employer violated the FLSA child labor hours standard by employing 11 workers between ages 14 and 15 to work past 7 p.m. between Labor Day and June 1. To address the violations, the employer and the restaurants have entered into an enhanced compliance agreement with the department and paid $207,486 in civil money penalties.
In addition to paying penalties, Deliver Magic, Deliver Magic II and Petrone agreed to do the following:
- Prevent children from working in any hazardous occupation, including disassembling and reassembling dough sheeters, and operating and cleaning dough rollers.
- Ensure 14- and 15-year-olds do not work outside of permitted hours, including during school hours, and do not engage in prohibited cooking activities.
- Provide materials to all locations regarding federal child labor laws.
- Update management training programs, training materials and onboarding materials to include information regarding FLSA compliance.
- Ensure all managers and supervisors review child labor materials on an annual basis and sign a compliance acknowledgement form certifying their knowledge of the materials.
- Require all employees under age 16 and their parents or guardians to sign a document indicating that they understand the child labor occupational and hours standards.
- Ensure employees under age 16 wear modified uniforms or color-coded name tags.
In fiscal year 2024, the department investigated 736 cases with child labor violations involving 4,030 children nationwide. The department addressed those violations by assessing employers more than $15.1 million in civil money penalties, an 89 percent increase from the previous year.
Mississippi Intimidators
The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment that prevents a Tunica fish farm and processing plant from retaliating against their workers and interfering with federal investigations of their employment practices.
In August 2023, investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Battle Fish North and Magnolia Processing Inc. allegedly tried to hide evidence, provide false information and interrupt communications with witnesses in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division also determined Battle Fish North, Magnolia Processing and representatives of the companies told employees they did not have to speak with investigators and threatened retaliation against them if they refused to mislead investigators intentionally. Specifically, the investigation found company managers threatened workers with physical harm, deportation or firing if they communicated honestly, or at all, with investigators.
Granted by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, the judgment forbids the employers from retaliating against workers and interfering with investigations.
The department also obtained an injunction against Battle Fish North, Magnolia Processing and their agents requiring them to read a statement of rights to H-2A temporary agricultural workers annually for three years and to conduct training of senior officials covering the rights of H-2A workers to ensure compliance with the law.
Dishonorable Mentions
- USDOL Wage and Hour Division investigators found Central Park Family Restaurant in New Port Richey, FL required employees to purchase a uniform shirt, which caused their average weekly wages to fall below the federal minimum wage. They also found the restaurant used the cash wage rather than the higher Florida state minimum wage to compute servers overtime rate and the employer incorrectly classified some kitchen staff as exempt from overtime. By doing so, the restaurant paid these nonexempt employees a flat weekly salary and did not pay them time and a half for hours worked over 40. The division recovered $87k in back wages and liquidated damages for 21 workers.
- A federal court approved a plan to make a final distribution of $12 million in assets to health plan participants and medical providers harmed by a multiple employer welfare arrangement, known as a MEWA. This distribution arises from a litigation brought by the USDOL after an investigation found mismanagement by the former fiduciaries of AEU Holdings LLC Employee Benefit Plan caused about $83 million in health claims to be wrongly billed to participants.
- An investigation by the USDOL’s Wage and Hour Division found Methodist Family Health terminated a worker while out on family medical leave, a violation of the Family Medical Leave Act. The worker had qualified for 12 weeks of protected leave for a serious medical condition and parental leave after their child’s birth, but the employer terminated the worker after nine weeks of leave. The Division recovered $14k in back wages for the worker.