A restaurant faces a $50,604 fine in the death of a 17-year-old employee who was parking cars. But this fine wasn’t from OSHA.
The Pearl Room in Bay Ridge, NY, was fined by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division because the teenager was working in violation of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The teen was killed when he tried to stop a rolling minivan from hitting another parked car.
Police say the teen had hopped out of the vehicle without putting it in park.
When the van started rolling backwards, he ran behind it and tried to stop it from moving. But the force of the van threw him backward, pinning him against another vehicle.
The FLSA prohibits 17-year-old workers from driving vehicles after sunset as part of their jobs.
The $50,000 penalty is the maximum allowed under a recent amendment to the FLSA. The $604 was for the employer’s failure to record the young worker’s date of birth.
OSHA had investigated this case and referred it to the Wage and Hour Division.
