HEBRON, Ky. — A Hebron company employed two children in its warehouse facility for months, according to a news release from the US Department of Labor.
Win.IT America Inc. was ordered "to stop employing children illegally and to not violate federal child labor laws in the future," the press release says.
Investigators with the department's Wage and Hour Division discovered the employment of the children in August, determining that two children aged 11 and 13 had been working in the company's distribution center.
In their time employed at Win.IT America Inc., one of the children was found to have operated a forklift — which is considered a hazardous occupation for anyone under 18, according to the Labor Department.
The other child was made to pick orders in the warehouse, which is a prohibited occupation for anyone under the age of 16.
"In addition, the company employed both children for more hours than legally allowed and violated federal regulations that forbid employing workers under 14 years of age in non-agricultural occupations," reads the press release.
Win.IT America, Inc. has been ordered to comply with federal child labor regulations and pay $30,276 in civil penalties. The company will also have to hire a third-party consultant to provide semi-annual compliance training for management over the next three years.
According to the US Department of Labor, Win.IT America Inc. is the US branch of WinIT Information Technology Co., a Shanghai, China-based integrated supply chain solutions provider.
It's not the first time the Win.IT location in Hebron has been in trouble with the US Department of Labor, either. In August 2022, the department said its Wage and Hour Division discovered the company failed to include merit-based bonuses in employees' regular rates of pay when calculating overtime rates.
As a result, the department said Win.IT owed more than $1 million in back wages to workers at warehouse locations in Walton, Hebron and two California locations.
“What began as an investigation of pay practices at a Hebron, Kentucky, warehouse became a wide-ranging review of a prominent e-commerce solutions provider that found systemic failures to ensure their workers’ rights to be paid all of their hard-earned wages,” said Jessica Looman, deputy principal Wage and Hour Division administrator, in the press release. “As the demand for warehouse workers and the popularity of online shopping grows, e-commerce employers must ensure they comply fully with federal protections of workers’ wages and benefits.”
Watch Live:
