FLDS Church fined for $1.9M by Department of Labor
keywords：Fundamentalist Mormon Church;child;Lyle Jeffs;
Abstract:The U.S. Department of Labor has fined $1.9 million against the Fundamentalist LDS Church and some of its leaders after a multi-year investigation into the church's alleged use of child labor and other violations.
The U.S. Department of Labor has fined $1.9 million against the Fundamentalist LDS Church and some of its leaders after a multi-year investigation into the church's alleged use of child labor and other violations.
The Hill reports the Department of Labor (DOL) conducted a multiyear investigation and found that leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) illegally hired young children in Southern Utah and northern Arizona to harvest pecans by hand for commercial sale.
On Wednesday, the DOL took administrative action to collect $1.9 million from the FLDS Church for child labor violations that occurred during the 2012-2013 pecan harvest.
According to reports church leaders pulled children out of school for several weeks to work during the 2012-13 pecan harvest. Adding insult to injury, the children were not even paid for their labor.
the U.S. Department of Labor also filed a lawsuit against the FLDS. According to the lawsuit as many as 175 children under the age of 13 were found among the 1,400 children and adults who harvested pecans at the Southern Utah Pecan Ranch in Hurricane but were not paid, according to a lawsuits.
The lawsuit is seeking back wages for the 1,400 workers and names FLDS Bishop Lyle Jeffs; member Dale Barlow.
