WOONSOCKET, R.I., Dec. 12 CVS Pharmacy Inc. was fined $226,598 after inspectors found 43 of its stores in the U.S. Northeast changed employee timecards and violated child labor laws.
The Woonsocket, R.I., chain agreed to pay $38,151 in back wages to 51 employees whose timecards managers had changed, the U.S. Labor Department said.
The payments followed a Labor Department investigation that revealed violations of the wage and youth employment provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the department said.
The department investigated 63 company stores because it previously found violations at some CVS pharmacies, it said.
The investigation found 78 children ages 15 to 17 worked with cardboard balers in violation of a law that said workers must be 18 to work with balers, which crush and tie cardboard.
A CVS representative said the workers violated company policy and said the company had agreed to train managers and minors about work rules.
Labor inspectors also found seven instances in which the company violated a part of the law that limits the number of hours minors can work and how late they can work, the department said.
The company told the department it would try to comply with labor laws at its more than 6,000 stores nationwide.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
