The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was established in part to ensure employers didn't take advantage of youth employees. At the time it was created (in 1938), young laborers were commonly hired to perform work in factories or as laborers, which paid poorly for their employee attendance and kept them from regularly going to school. Now, youth under the age of 18 can still take jobs to earn some money, but only in environments that do not pose hazards or interfere with their education.

For instance, a child as young as 14 can work in a bakery, but he or she cannot prepare goods if it means operating dangerous equipment like industrial ovens or electric mixers.

Knowing that children cannot perform work using power-driven equipment, it may seem like bad idea to task 14-year -old with operating a chain saw, loading scrap wood into a wood chipper and removing lumber from a conveyor, but this is what the Department of Labor discovered when it investigated Tennessee Timber and Lumber Inc., based out of Ashland City.

"It is against the law to put the health and well-being of minors at risk by requiring them to perform prohibited, hazardous jobs," said Sandra Sanders, director of the Nashville Wage and Hour Division district office.

Moreover, investigators allege the employer was also violating overtime provisions through its failure to issue additional compensation for time and attendance past 40 hours in a single workweek.

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