After a 16-year-old boy lost both legs last June in a preventable workplace accident in La Center, a follow-up investigation by Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) found that his employer Rotschy LLC has committed dozens of child labor law violations.
Rotschy is a non-union construction excavation company based in Southwest Washington. In December, L&I fined the company more than $156,000 — the maximum penalty — for allowing a minor to operate equipment without appropriate training or experience. The boy was dragged beneath the blade of a walk-behind trencher he was using to dig a channel for fence posts — while participating in a work-based learning program that allows students to earn class credit for jobs outside the classroom. His injuries were so severe that both legs had to be amputated.
Rotschy appealed the fine. The decision on whether to overturn the fine lies with the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, which has set a mediation conference for April 8. If the conference does not result in a settlement, the board will forward the case to a hearings judge for a trial.
156k for crippling a teenager is a pitiful slap on the wrist. How the hell is that the maximum penalty? What a sick joke.