Commonwealth v. Belanger

Lewis Belanger is a proprietor of Commonwealth Carrier, a pick up and delivery service. In 1988, he hired a seventeen year old high school student to work for him and, by putting the student behind the wheel of a company van, transgressed G. L. c. 149, § 62(10). That statute is one of a set of provisions found between G. L. c. 149, §§ 59-105, which regulate work by women and children. Violation of § 62 carries a ten to fifty dollar fine or a month’s imprisonment for the first offense. See G. L. c. 149, § 78. A District Court judge, after a bench trial, found Belanger guilty and imposed a…