Utah contractor fined for employing children under 14


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SALT LAKE CITY — Federal regulators have fined an electrical contractor for illegally employing children in Hildale, Washington County, home to a polygamous sect.

Reliance Electric Inc. employed five children in Hildale under age 14 in construction work, including a 13-year-old who drove a forklift. All five cleaned and loaded construction materials on and off trailers and helped stock and organize materials at the company's main office, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Reliance Electric also employed three children on a construction site in Bixby, Oklahoma, including a 17-year-old who operated a circular saw.

The company violated the minimum wage and overtime laws by failing to pay five of the children, and underpaying 56 other workers, the Labor Department said. Reliance Electric had a practice of not meeting payroll, and instead paid workers smaller amounts to hold them over, paid less than minimum wage and failed to pay overtime.

The Labor Department required Reliance Electric to pay $163,000 in back wages and another $163,000 in damages to 61 employees, and a $50,300 fine for child labor violations.

Border towns Hildale and Colorado City, Arizona, are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which practices polygamy.

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Dennis Romboy

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