Three New Hampshire employers pay over $56K in penalties, back wages after US Department of Labor finds child labor, overtime violations at skating rinks

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $13,125 in back wages for four employees at a New Hampshire ice skating rink and a total of three employers paid $42,921 in civil money penalties after investigations found they violated federal child labor and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that the employers allowed 14- and 15-year olds to work in excess of the FLSA’s hours restrictions at The Rinks at Exeter, Tri-Town Ice Arena in Hooksett and The Salem ICenter.

The division found the employers also failed to keep time records for non-exempt workers paid on a salary basis and did not keep accurate dates of birth for minors. Investigators also discovered:

• North Atlantic Hockey Group LLC, operating as The Rinks at Exeter, owed four employees $13,125 in unpaid overtime, and misclassified minors as independent contractors.
• Tri-Town Ice Arena LP, doing business as Tri-Town Ice Arena, employed three minors less than 14 years of age, the federal minimum age for most employment in non-agricultural occupations, with one minor employed at 11 years of age. Two underage minors also worked in excess of the FLSA’s hours restrictions, and the employer misclassified minors as independent contractors.
• Top Gun New Hampshire Inc., doing business as ICenter or Salem ICenter, employed one minor less than 14 years of age who worked in excess of the FLSA’s hours restrictions while underage.

 “Federal child labor restrictions exist to ensure that when young people work, the work is safe and does not jeopardize their health, well-being or educational opportunities,” said Wage and Hour District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Employers, youth workers and their parents or guardians should review the extensive materials on youth employment we make available online, and contact our office to speak with a wage and hour professional to answer their questions.”

Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

For more information about child labor standards, the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and use its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.