Amari Thigpen was 14 when he received his first job serving food, busing tables, greeting customers, mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms at Sugapeach Chicken & Fish Fry in North Liberty.

It was willing to work around his schedule as a student-athlete. After school, he would practice with the football team until about 6 p.m. Then he would head to the fast-casual southern cuisine restaurant, where he’d work for an hour or more, sometimes past 7 p.m.

“It was just to make a little extra money after practice,” Amari, now 19 and a student at Western Illinois University, told The Gazette. “But it also made me accountable and responsible, and taught me teamwork (as well as) how to manage my time and the importance of having a strong work ethic.”

He would bring his homework to the restaurant, where owners Carol Cater-Simmons and Chad Simmons would help tutor when needed.

The restaurant felt like a second home. He worked alongside some of his teammates, and was treated like family.

“It also made me grow, having a connection with Mr. Chad and Mrs. Carol and helping me with school or a problem I had,” Amari said. “They were right there to support me. … They always showed positivity and love to us.”

The restaurant’s owners, however, now face roughly $65,000 in fines for letting teens like Amari work longer hours than permitted under federal law. It’s an amount they say will put them out of business.

“It felt like we were being hit by a truck,” owner Chad Simmons said.

Restaurants hit with fines of up to $180,000

Iowa Restaurant Association President and Chief Executive Officer Jessica Dunker said several Iowa restaurant owners are facing steep fines ranging from $50,000 to $180,000 for following a new state law loosening work requirements for teens that conflicts with federal child labor regulations.

State lawmakers last year passed a law allowing teens to work longer hours and at more jobs, including those formerly off-limits as being hazardous. The state law includes a provision allowing 14- and 15-year-olds to work as late as 9 p.m. on school nights and as late as 11 p.m. during the summer.

Federal law specifies younger teens can work only until 7 p.m. during the school year and until 9 p.m. during the summer.

Supporters have said the state law provides more opportunities for young Iowans who want to work, and could help address the state’s shortage of workers.

Democrats, labor unions and others criticized the bill for conflicting with federal law, putting young Iowans at risk in dangerous jobs and creating contradictory rules for Iowa businesses to follow.

Governor decries ‘excessive fines’

Gov. Kim Reynolds and Dunker have decried the federal fines as “excessive.”

Dunker asserts the U.S. Department of Labor is being heavy handed and singling out Iowa, noting it is one of 21 states with employment laws related to minors that don’t comply with federal law.

The Labor Department denies singling out Iowa, and says it is dealing with violations nationwide. So far this year, the department says it has found child labor violations in 16 states, with ongoing investigations in several others.

Last fiscal year, the department concluded 955 investigations, identifying child labor violations affecting nearly 5,800 children across the country. Penalties assessed exceeded $8 million.

Federal labor officials had warned lawmakers and the governor that employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act who follow the less-restrictive Iowa law would be subject to penalties.

‘I knew I was in a safe environment’

A Labor Department spokesperson declined to comment on the fines against Sugapeach, stating the case still is considered open.

Simmons said the restaurant has appealed and are negotiating to have the fines reduced.

In a statement provided to The Gazette, the Department of Labor said no child should be working long hours, doing dangerous work or be employed in unsafe conditions.

“It’s dangerous and irresponsible that amidst a rise in child labor exploitation in this country, Iowa’s governor and state legislature have chosen to repeatedly undermine federal child labor protections despite the Labor Department’s clear guidance,” the statement said.

Since 2019, federal investigators have found an 88 percent increase in children being employed in violation of federal labor provisions.

Labor officials note the restaurant industry has a high rate of violations and often employs vulnerable workers who may not be aware of their rights or employment rules.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is working every day to ensure that children seeking their first work experiences are doing so in a safe and responsible way,” a spokesperson said. “But under our watch, that will not include allowing children to be exploited.”

Amari, the former Sugapeach employee, said he never felt unsafe or exploited working at the restaurant. “I knew I was in a safe environment. It was a positive environment,” he said.

He said he was never forced by the business to work past 7 p.m. on a school night. In instances when he did, “that was on me, because he had started or was in the middle of a task he wanted to finish.

Enhanced penalties

Last year, the Department of Labor announced it was launching a national initiative to uncover child labor violations, which included changing the way it fines employers for violations.

Previously, employers were fined on a per-child basis based on the size of the business and gravity of the violation. Now, employers are fined per violation. For instance, if there are three separate violations related to a child’s employment, the employer is fined for three separate penalties, each of which can reach the statutory maximum.

Federal law allows for a fine of up to $15,138 for child labor violations and up $68,801 for violations that cause death or serious injury of an employee under the age of 18. Fines can be increased or decreased based on the nature of the violations, the age of the child, the size of the business, whether the violation was willful or repeated, the length of illegal employment and hours worked.

The Department of Labor said it is committed to using all its enforcement tools, including assessing monetary penalties, to ensure that when children work, the work does not jeopardize their health, well-being or education.

‘Innocent bystanders in a fight some else created’

Chad Simmons said he was trying to help his community by supporting young teens, many of whom came from single-parent households.

The restaurant owner hired 14- and 15-year-olds as part of a program called “Scholars Making Dollars,” which works with the Alpha Phi Alpha chapter in Iowa City. Under the program, the high school students receive mentorship provided by the chapter and part-time work experience through the restaurant.

Simmons said the aim was to provide a safe after-school environment where the teens could learn valuable job skills, while putting a little money in their pocket.

Students worked one day during the week and one day on the weekend from about 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., with a 30-minute dinner break and free meal provided by the restaurant. He said they were paid $8 an hour, a guaranteed tip of $3 and additional incentives that could bump their total pay to $13 an hour for busing tables, greeting customers, serving food, mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms.

“My wife and I were there with them and working beside them. They were never doing anything unsafe,” Simmons said.

Most of the six to seven teens employed by the restaurant were student athletes looking for a job with flexible scheduling, he said. At the same time, the program helped the restaurant fill positions during the pandemic at a time when many workers were leaving the industry, finding jobs with higher pay or weren’t looking for work because of unemployment benefits.

Simmons said he was contacted by the Department of Labor in early August 2023 requesting payroll records and employee timesheets for the last two years. Investigators also interviewed employees under the age of 16.

He said he does not know why his business was selected, but speculates it may have arisen as a result of national news coverage of the restaurant’s use of high schoolers to fill a worker shortage during the pandemic.

And while the violations predate the 2023 change to state law (Simmons said the business was simply unaware of the limits for 14- and 15-year-olds), Simmons faults lawmakers and the Iowa Restaurant Association for advocating “a policy to purposely antagonize the federal government and the Department of Labor.”

He said his interactions with the Department of Labor throughout the process have been positive, calling them “great civil servants.”

“This is not a train wreck that we started,” Simmons said. “We are innocent bystanders in a fight someone else created” between the state and federal government.

But it’s a fight Simmons said could result in a killing blow for his restaurant “for trying to do the right thing.” As a result of the fines, he said the restaurant no longer employs workers under the age of 16.

“As a Black-owned business trying to be supportive of the community, it breaks my heart that the only way for us to survive is to not employee 14- and 15-year-olds and not to provide support to our youth,” Simmons said.

Parent: Feds should loosen work rules for teens

As the old saying goes, raising a child takes a village, said Eric Thigpen, Amari’s father.

As a divorced father who grew up in a single-parent household, Thigpen said he understands how difficult it can be for working parents to raise a child — to have the time and resources to make sure they’re surrounded by positive role models, engaged in constructive activities and taking advantage of opportunities to grow and learn.

“For me, as a parent, I didn’t have any issue with it,” said Thigpen, a former Hawkeye football player and member of the local Alpha Phi Alpha chapter involved in the “Scholars Making Dollars” program.

“The life lessons we instill in these kids will catapult them monumentally in the future,” Thigpen said.

A March 2023 Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed that a majority of Iowa parents with children under 18 ― 57 percent ― supported relaxing child labor laws, with 32 percent opposed and 11 percent unsure.

“Being a student-athlete and working around his schedule, it was great for him,” Thigpen said. “It didn’t affect my child’s academics or extracurricular activities. It was a bonus. … It was a win-win for myself and my son.

“You have these kids out here that are eager to learn and do good things. … They want to do their school work and be good students, but they also want to work and put a little change in their pocket.”

He and his son said federal officials should loosen regulations on the hours young people can work.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Thigpen said of the $65,000 fine against Sugapeach. “You have a business owner and restaurant trying to do positive things for the community.”

Amari agreed.

“They were giving us work opportunities and to make money and pushing us to go to college,” he said. “ … I feel if teenagers want to put in the work and work those hours, they should be able to.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com