FLDS Members and Company Fined $1.96 Million Over Alleged Child Labor Violations

The brother of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), is among several church members facing nearly $2 million in fines for alleged violations of federal child labor laws, ABC News has reported.

The U.S. Department of Labor confirmed that fines totaling $1,964,450 were filed against FLDS members Lyle Jeffs, Dale Barlow and Brian Jessop, as well as the FLDS itself and Paragon Contractors Corporation. The department opened its investigation in December 2012, after private investigator Sam Brower reported what he described as FLDS-organized child labor at orchards near Hurricane, Utah.

ABC News’ “20/20” later visited the area and said it found children working, using forklifts and shoveling dirt to build fences. Former FLDS member Joe Broadbent told “20/20” that when he was in the church years ago, “the schools would stop, and we would all load up and go pick pecans.”

The FLDS, also called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is a sect that splintered from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church, more than a century ago. The source notes that the Mormon Church, which reports more than 15 million members, is not connected to the smaller polygamist sect.

In a statement to ABC News, a Department of Labor official said that on April 20, 2015, the Wage and Hour Division assessed civil money penalties of $1,964,450, jointly and severally, against Paragon Contractors Corporation, Brian Jessop, Dale Barlow, Lyle Jeffs and the FLDS entities incorporated as the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the FLDS Church and the Corporation of the President of the FLDS Church. The penalties were for violations of child labor prohibitions under the Fair Labor Standards Act related to the pecan harvest. The official said the department continues to consider other enforcement actions in the investigation.

The FLDS is also fighting the investigation in court. According to officials, the church, Paragon Contractors, Brian Jessop and Dale Barlow are contesting the latest penalty assessment, and Paragon Contractors, Jessop and Barlow have formally contested it.

Source: Read the original report