By LINDSAY WHITEHURST - Associated Press - Thursday, September 22, 2016
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah concrete company with ties to a polygamous group argued prosecutors are using old accusations against them in a child labor case that alleges they put underage laborers to work for long hours with little pay on job sites around the country.
Phaze Concrete acknowledged in court documents that three teenagers worked on a job site in 2014, but the company fixed that problem and hasn’t violated the law since, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Phaze lawyers argue they shouldn’t be slapped with sanctions without evidence of new problems.
U.S. Department of Labor lawyers, though, contend that investigators have since found more about the company’s practice of drawing teenagers from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to work in hazardous conditions.
Phaze used child labor on jobs for companies like like Wal-Mart, Scheels All Sports and Hobby Lobby, prosecutors said. Their case included statements from two ex-FLDS teens who said they were put to work at ages 12 and 14.
Federal investigators first talked to the boys when they were pulled over while riding in the back of an open truck in 2014, according to court documents.
They conducted an investigation then and were told then the boys were relatives of employees and collected trash at the job site unbeknownst to the bosses. Labor officials issued a fine and closed the case.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/22/firm-tied-to-polygamous-group-denies-new-child-lab/
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