The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a motion to stop Paragon Contractors Corp. of Hildale and its owners from violating federal Fair Labor Standards Act provisions after it allegedly discovered a 15-year-old worker operated a power-driven table saw on a construction site.
The department said the alleged activity, which occurred in June, violates the youth employment occupation standards governing legal employment for 14- and 15-year-olds, and the hazardous occupation orders prohibiting youngsters under 18 from hazardous-work employment.
The most recent alleged violation follows similar violations found in 2005 after the department's Wage and Hour Division conducted an investigation. Paragon was fined in February for illegally employing young workers after an investigation disclosed two minors, 12 and 13 years old, employed in violation of the act's 14-year legal age minimum for nonagricultural employment. Those two minors and a 15-year-old were working on a residential home construction site in violation of the regulatory occupation standards for 14- and 15-year-olds. All three were found working on a roof, a hazardous occupation prohibited for people under 18. The 15-year-old minor was operating a table saw, also a violation of the hazardous occupation restrictions.
The company had agreed to comply with the child labor provisions of the act following the February investigation, the department said.
The department's youth employment regulations include 17 hazardous occupations prohibited for workers under the age of 18, including roofing and operating power-driven circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears.
Paragon's owners are James and Brian Jessop.