text: SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a set of lawsuits against the Fundamentalist LDS Church and some of its leaders after a multi-year investigation into the church's alleged use of child labor and other violations. 
   
   The lawsuits filed Tuesday in federal court accuses top church leaders of pulling children in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, out of school for weeks to work during the 2012-13 pecan harvest, all while not paying members for their work. 
   
   An administrative action filed within the Department of Labor is also seeking $1.9 million in penalties for the alleged child labor violations. 
   
   As many as 175 children under the age of 13 were found among the 1,400 children and adults who harvested pecans at the Southern Utah Pecan Ranch in Hurricane but were not paid, according to one of the lawsuits. 
   
   "These children worked for the defendants in agriculture performing various job duties, including but not limited to: pruning trees, mowing fields, maintenance duties, picking and bagging pecans, shaking trees, driving equipment, cleanup work, and preparing pecans for commerce," the lawsuit states. "Defendants knew that they were employing these children during school hours without pay." 
   
   The lawsuit naming FLDS Bishop Lyle Jeffs; member Dale Barlow, who supervised the ranch; and the two operating branches of the church, the Corporation of the President and Corporation of the Presiding Bishop, is seeking back wages for the 1,400 workers. Because no record of the work was kept, it is unclear just how much is owed, the lawsuit notes. 
   
   Another federal court filing accuses Paragon Contractors Corporation, a Hildale construction company that manages the pecan groves, and the company's owner, FLDS member Dan Jessop, of violating a 2007 injunction handed down when child labor violations were discovered at the pecan ranch. 
   
   In the filing, a stepdaughter of Jessop's brother claims that she began working for the pecan ranch when she was 15 years old, working up to 15 hours with other young girls shelling pecans in a "sorting shed." She later worked in a Paragon office, including managing the sign-in sheets used for children working at the ranch. 
   
   The young woman confirmed that the FLDS members were not paid for their work, according to court documents. 
   
   David Weil, the department's Wage and Hour Division administrator, said in a prepared statement Wednesday that church leaders' suspected ongoing violations of labor laws, especially concerning children, cannot be tolerated. 
   
   "The legal actions taken today send a clear message that the Wage and Hour Division will take any and all actions necessary to protect the rights of the most vulnerable. Today we speak up for those who could not or would not speak up for themselves," Weil said. 
   
   Email: mromero@deseretnews.com 
   
   Twitter: McKenzieRomero ||||| The Department of Labor (DOL) is fining one of the largest fundamentalist Mormon churches $1.9 million for allegedly violating child labor laws. 
   
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   The agency says its wage and hour division conducted a multiyear investigation and found that leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) illegally hired young children in Southern Utah and northern Arizona to harvest pecans by hand for commercial sale. 
   
   On Wednesday, DOL took administrative action to collect $1.9 million from FLDS Church members Dale Barlow and Brian Jessop, and Paragon Contractors Corp. for child labor violations that occurred during the 2012-2013 pecan harvest. 
   
   The department has also filed a lawsuit against the FLDS Church Bishop Lyle Jeffs and Barlow to claim back wages and initiated a contempt of court action against Jessop and Paragon for violating a 2007 court order that restrained them from violating child labor laws. 
   
   FLDS leaders are accused of directing schools in Hildale, Utah, and nearby Colorado City, Ariz., to close so children and adult laborers could collect pecans. DOL investigators said they found that at least 175 children under the age of 13 were harvesting pecans. 
   
   At least 1,400 FLDS children and adults allegedly worked in the fields for no compensation. 
   
   “For years, these employers have trampled on the rights of workers, both children and adults, and violated our child labor laws forcing minors to work for them,” David Weil, administrator of DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. “Such disregard for the rights of all workers, especially children, will not be tolerated.”
target: – A fundamentalist Mormon church faces legal action from the Department of Labor after allegedly using young children to harvest pecans. Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints members Dale Barlow and Brian Jessop, and Paragon Contractors were fined $1.9 million yesterday for violating federal child labor laws, reports the Hill. Bishop Lyle Jeffs and Barlow also face a lawsuit for back wages, and Jessop and Paragon face contempt of court charges after violating a 2007 order regarding the use of child laborers. The men allegedly shut down schools in Utah and Arizona to supply workers on pecan farms. “For years, these employers have trampled on the rights of workers, both children and adults, and violated our child labor laws forcing minors to work for them,” says the Labor Department's David Weil. The feds say at least 175 kids under the age of 13 were put to work during the 2012-2013 harvest, as were about 1,200 adults, with no compensation, reports the Deseret News. The kids performed various jobs, "including but not limited to: pruning trees, mowing fields, maintenance duties, picking and bagging pecans, shaking trees, driving equipment, cleanup work, and preparing pecans for commerce," says the federal lawsuit.