Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has paid $31,680 in fines after the Department of Labor accused the company of violating child labor laws at stores located in Hanover, Pennsylvania; and Pewaukee, Wisconsin.

The department says the fines it assessed were the maximum allowable under the its guidelines for the nature of violations found.

The department said it found that two minors, ages 16 and 17, loaded a scrap paper baler and a paper box compactor in the Pewaukee store. In the Hanover store, eight minors, also ages 16 and 17, loaded a scrap paper baler machine in violation of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and one minor operated the paper baler, the department alleged.

The FLSA establishes the rules governing the employment of youth under the age of 18. These youth employment provisions, also known as the child labor laws, are designed to ensure that early work experiences are safe and do not jeopardize the health, well-being or educational opportunities of young workers.

The FLSA prohibits the employment of minors under the age of 18 years in any nonagricultural occupations that the department has declared hazardous. There are currently 17 hazardous occupation orders identifying the hazardous occupations. Hazardous Occupation Order No. 12 generally prohibits minors under the age of 18 from loading, operating, and unloading certain power-driven paper-product machines, including scrap paper balers and paper box compactors.

In 2005, the Department of Labor and Wal-Mart entered a controversial agreement to settle allegations that Wal-Mart violated child-labor law by allowing young workers in New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Arkansas to operate hazardous equipment. The agreement called for the department's Wage and Hour Division to notify Wal-Mart 15 days prior to investigations and gave Wal-Mart the ability to avoid fines under certain conditions. The department let the agreement expire earlier this year.