Vancouver’s Sky Zone should pay a much steeper penalty than $22,000 for exploiting child labor laws (“Vancouver trampoline park Sky Zone fined 22K for overworking teen employees,” The Columbian, Feb. 22).
This is a repeated offense. As per the Violation Tracker website, a leading database on corporate violations, the company had been previously fined $18,518 for wage and hour violations as well as child labor/youth violations.
The U.S. Department of Labor states that those who violate child labor laws “are subject to a civil money penalty of up to $10,000 for each young worker who was employed in violation.” The Sky Zone located in Vancouver was found to have 43 teenagers working over the legal hour limit during the school year. As a repeat offender in breaking child labor law and disregarding the law itself, why isn’t Sky Zone paying a steeper fine?
