A bill before the Legislature would fix a loophole in Oregon’s child labor laws. (Amanda Loman/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
In 2020, a Ford dealership located in a suburb of Portland settled with the U.S. Department of Labor for nearly $28,000 over reported violations of federal child labor law.
Federal investigators had learned that six workers, ages 16 and 17, were performing prohibited tasks as lot attendants at Landmark Ford in Tigard, including operating trash compactors. One teen was injured when he was thrown backwards into a tailgate while riding in the bed of a pickup truck.
State investigators with Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries scrutinized the dealership and levied a penalty for the company’s failure to obtain a required certificate to employ minors. But unlike federal investigators, the state bureau didn’t investigate any of the safety violations or issue fines for them. Because of the federal penalties, the state wouldn’t have been able to keep any of the money from a fine issued to the dealership. (The dealership did not respond to a voicemail from InvestigateWest seeking comment.)