Wal-Mart settles child labor cases
/The US Department of Labor [official website] announced Saturday that
retail giant Wal-Mart will pay $135,540 to settle 24 federal child
labor law violations. The charges involve teenage workers who used
hazardous equipment while working at Wal-Mart stores in Arkansas,
Connecticut and New Hampshire. With few exceptions, current federal law
[DOL backgrounder] prohibits any person under the age of 18 to operate
hazardous machinery. As part of the settlement, Wal-Mart has agreed to
train managers to make sure further violations do not occur. The
allegations, which occurred between 1998 and 2002, involved one case in
New Hampshire where a youth was using a chain saw to trim Christmas
trees. A majority of the cases in Connecticut involved children loading
paper balers. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., was critical of the
provision that gives Wal-Mart 15 days notice before the Labor
Department investigates wage and hour accusations. He said it could
give Wal-Mart the chance to sweep violations under the rug. "I don't
know if the Department of Labor threw in the towel or whether Wal-Mart
put enough political pressure on them that they ended up with a
sweetheart deal," Miller said, adding that he will ask the department's
inspector general this week to review the agreement. "I don't know if
there's anything in Wal-Mart's background with regards to allegations
of violations of labor laws that would make any suggestion Wal-Mart has
earned the right for this kind of treatment," Miller said. Wal-Mart has
been the target of lawsuits accusing the company of bias against women
and not paying employees for all the hours they worked. Wal-Mart has
vigorously fought the court actions. [more]
