Company must pay full fine for youth fatality

An administrative law judge reduced the $132,575 fine a Massachusetts fish processing company was ordered to pay in connection with a 2000 forklift accident that led to a fatality, but the Department of Labor’s Administrative Board reversed the decision, because the victim was a minor, according to the Boston Business Journal.

The violation by Fisherman’s Fleet, Malden, Mass., “resulted in the most severe consequence, the death of a 16-year-old boy,” the DOL said. “Given that fact and the review of the other factors, the board found that the penalty assessed against the company should not be reduced.”

The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits employees less than 18 years old from operating forklifts.

The DOL found that over the course of two years, Fisherman’s had hired 26 minors between the ages of 14 and 18 as cleaners. The work required the use of a forklift, and the minors received no safety training. Joseph Marzullo, 16, died from injuries sustained from a forklift overturn.

After the accident, the Massachusetts Department of Health developed a “Forklift Stop Sticker” that employers can affix to the equipment to remind workers and their supervisors of the law.