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SAMIAM · 03-30-2005, 11:45 AM

I agree that the folks at the Tamarack should have been on their toes after the first fine,but the DOL is having a pretty negative effect on area business' with their intimidating audits.Recently they've fined Hart's ,The Naswa,here at the Village Kitchen and many others.We had no clue that the DOL regards friday night as a school night and we frequently used kids who are 16 and 17 until 8:30 or 9pm.Durring the week these kids have to leave by 7pm and we knew that,but occaisionally,they'll sign out at 7:05 or 7:10.Every one of those 5 minute late sign outs can draw up to a $10,000 fine (gulp)
Our fine was around $7,500 and we felt it was totally uncalled for but our protests fell on deaf ears.
We're scared to death now to employ kids under 18 and are phasing all of them out.....we have three left and we love them and don't have the heart to lay them off.We are now using eastern European students through a employment agency....last summer we had 18 of them.
So the bottom line is....all these nice kids want to work but we can't risk the fines, should they inadvertently sign out 5 minutes late some night .So instead of staying in the area,all this money is going overseas.
It makes us feel bad,but as you can see,second time offenders are not treated well.

03-30-2005, 11:45 AM	#3
SAMIAM Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Moultonborough Posts: 2,836 Thanks: 326 Thanked 1,626 Times in 562 Posts	I agree that the folks at the Tamarack should have been on their toes after the first fine,but the DOL is having a pretty negative effect on area business' with their intimidating audits.Recently they've fined Hart's ,The Naswa,here at the Village Kitchen and many others.We had no clue that the DOL regards friday night as a school night and we frequently used kids who are 16 and 17 until 8:30 or 9pm.Durring the week these kids have to leave by 7pm and we knew that,but occaisionally,they'll sign out at 7:05 or 7:10.Every one of those 5 minute late sign outs can draw up to a $10,000 fine (gulp) Our fine was around $7,500 and we felt it was totally uncalled for but our protests fell on deaf ears. We're scared to death now to employ kids under 18 and are phasing all of them out.....we have three left and we love them and don't have the heart to lay them off.We are now using eastern European students through a employment agency....last summer we had 18 of them. So the bottom line is....all these nice kids want to work but we can't risk the fines, should they inadvertently sign out 5 minutes late some night .So instead of staying in the area,all this money is going overseas. It makes us feel bad,but as you can see,second time offenders are not treated well.