Polygamous town contractor must pay $1M to child workers

(Rick Bowmer | AP Photo) This Dec. 16, 2014 photo, shows Hildale, Utah, sitting at the base of Red Rock Cliff mountains, with its sister city, Colorado City, Ariz., in the foreground. A judge is ordering a Utah contractor with ties to a polygamous group on the Utah-Arizona border to pay a total of more than $1 million in back wages to children who prosecutors say were forced to pick pecans from 2008-2013. U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell made her Tuesday, July 2, 2019, ruling based on the Department of Labor's determination that 104 workers were eligible for back pay from Paragon Contractors. The department says the majority worked an average of six days per week and about three months each year. A judge has ordered a contractor with ties to a polygamous group on the Utah-Arizona border to pay more than $1 million in back wages to children who prosecutors say were forced to pick pecans from 2008-2013.

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