JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax is working to learn more about a federal investigation into child labor violations involving dozens of minors who worked at a popular Jacksonville trampoline park.
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The U.S Department of Labor says it fined Urban Air Trampoline Park on Southside Boulevard.
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We went to the area where the trampoline park is and heard from parents about this investigation.
“They are still young,” David Mosely said.
The U.S Department of Labor investigators say they found Urban Air Trampoline Park allowed 55 employees, all minors ages 14 to 15 years old, to work past 7 p.m. on school nights.
Because of this, Urban Air had to pay a little over $43,000 for these violations.
Something that Mosley and his 9-year-old son Ryder have a problem with.
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“They got a lot of priorities that they need to be focusing on to better themselves down the road,” Mosely said.
It’s considered a violation of Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards act.
The investigation also showed the employer deducted break times from some employees’ weekly hours.
By doing so, the employer failed to pay overtime premiums when the missing time pushed the employees work hours over 40 in a work week.
So, in addition to the fines, Urban Air had to pay $558 in back wages to 12 employees.
Mosley says when his 9-year-old son gets older he wouldn’t want someone to do that to him.
Absolutely not, I’ll be making sure he’s doing everything right and they are too,” Mosely said.
We spoke with Jimmy Larcen who is also a parent. He says he doesn’t see a problem with teenagers working extra hours.
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“I don’t see that being that big of a deal, honestly. I have a 14-year-old and I’ve worked him to 11 o’clock in the yard pick up [sic] trash,” Larcen said.
We did walk inside of Urban Air Trampoline Park to see if we could get answers from management.
Since there were minors inside, we stopped rolling our camera’s.
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After speaking with a representative, they declined to give any comment.
