Child operated forklift at Kentucky warehouse, federal officials say

HEBRON, Ky. — The operator of a northern Kentucky warehouse and distribution center has been ordered to stop employing children -- including one who operated a forklift -- and not to violate federal child labor laws, federal officials said last month.

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According to an Oct. 13 news release from the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky cited Win.IT America’s illegal employment of children.

Federal officials said the business, based in the Cincinnati suburb of Hebron, Kentucky employed two children -- ages 11 and 13 -- for several months at its distribution center, WHIO-TV reported.

Violations included the company employing one child to operate a forklift and another to pick up orders in the warehouse, the news release stated. Federal officials said that Win.IT America employed both children for more hours than was legally allowed, and also violated federal regulations that prohibit employing workers under the age of 14 in “non-agricultural occupations.”

According to the news release, the court ordered Win.It America to pay $30,276 in penalties and hire a third-party consultant to provide semiannual training for the company’s management for three years.

The company, founded in October 2013, is the U.S. branch of WinIT Information Technology Co., a China-based integrated supply chain solutions provider based in Shanghai. The company employs more than 700 workers in the United States, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom, according to the Department of Labor.

“Businesses must comply with the federal child labor regulations,” Tremelle Howard, regional solicitor for the Department of Labor’s Atlanta regional office, said in a statement. “Federal law ensures young workers can benefit by gaining valuable work experience without endangering their safety or hampering their education.

“When we find child labor violations, the Department of Labor will not hesitate to use all enforcement tools available to compel compliance, including stopping the shipment of goods created and produced while the business was breaking the law to do so.”