A pair of Los Angeles County businesses must pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for putting juvenile employees as young as 15 into dangerous situations and working them in excess of hours and times allowed by law.

A&J Meats of the City of Industry and The Right Hire of Downey “jointly employed and endangered children as young as 15 by tasking them to use sharp knives, allowing them to work inside freezers and coolers, and to scheduling them to work at times not permitted by law, all in violation of federal child labor regulations,” the U.S. Department of Labor said in a news release.

Specific violations include:

• Working children for more than three hours on school days
• Working children past 7 p.m. on school days
• Working children more than 18 hours in a week while school is in session

The companies must repay more than $327,000 in profits and pay almost $63,000 in fines. The businesses and A&J owner Priscilla Helen Castillo also must submit to annual Fair Labor Standards Act training and be independently monitored for violations for three years.

“A&J Meats and The Right Hire knowingly endangered these children’s safety and put their companies’ profits before the well-being of these minors,” Western Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin said in the release. “These employers egregiously violated federal law and now, both have learned about the serious consequences for those who so callously expose children to harm.” 

If you have questions or concerns about possible workplace violations, you can call 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243) regardless of where you are from. The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.