JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Adventure Landing in Jacksonville Beach is being ordered to pay more than $150,000 in penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the park repeatedly violated child labor laws.
Federal investigators found the company assigned young teenagers to work late hours during the school year and as attendants on elevated water slides without certification.
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People told Action News Jax Annette Gutierrez they have happy memories at the water park, but they don’t want to give Adventure Landing business if employers are taking advantage of children.
“It’s very very good, and it’s fun for all the children to be here, but when they find out they’re doing things that they should not be doing, it’s just sad,” Jacksonville Beach resident Sandra Deangelis said.
Aixianet Pagan worked at the park six years ago when she was 15. She was shocked to hear they assigned 14-year-olds to work late hours on school nights, because child labor laws say they can’t work past 7 p.m. when there’s school the next day.
“When I was there, you had to be certified to work certain parts of the park,” Pagan said. “They would not let you do that unless you had a certificate, so that’s surprising to hear, because they were very strict on that.”
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Pagan said the company should be held accountable.
“There is no way for the children know what they’re doing, and they can be easily taken advantage that way. And they’re making money off that, and I don’t think that’s okay at all,” Pagan said.
This isn’t the first time investigators uncovered violations at Adventure Landing.
In 2018, they fined the company $6,000 for violations at a North Carolina location.
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“I don’t want to go there because I don’t want to be a part of the reason why those kids are there,” Jacksonville resident Michelle Lennon said.
The U.S. Department of Labor says Adventure Landing has agreed to pay the penalties. It also agreed to protect children with labor safeguards and to prevent future violations.
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