Decade-Old Blog Joke Comes Weirdly True as RA Fined For Child Labor Law Violations

Way back in ought-nine, when the Reston Association was planning on moving to is then-new headquarters, an intrepid investigative journalist (who are we kidding, it was us) discovered what was a SHOCKING detail in the floorplans: a "kids area," where we jokingly (or "jokingly") imagined that an army of child laborers would be put to work filing away all the paperwork that necessitated the costly move from RA's old headquarters in the first place.

As with other wacky memes that somehow came true in horrific this-entire-universe-is-a-twisted-simulation fashion, a decade later we discover the RA is being fined for child labor law violations, according to our BFFs at Reston Now. Wait, what?

The state fined Reston Association $12,000 for violating child labor laws late last year.

The state’s Department of Labor and Industry issued fines in October 2018 after an investigation found “numerous violations” regarding minors employed as aquatics attendants or lifeguards, according to an August 2018 inspection report obtained by Reston Now.

Kudos to our Reston Now BFFs for moving beyond wacky polls to do this weird, decidedly non "web log" thing called "journalism," or at least "listening to people who email them with axes to grind but with valid documentation to back up their gripes." We'll have to check that out some day!

But we digress. You would think that would explain why the RA has had so much trouble with its swimming pools this year. You would think.

A source familiar with the state’s labor law investigation and on-boarding of lifeguards, however, said that part of the reason for delays in opening the pools was because lifeguards did not have required safety certifications to begin working — an issue that was spotted by administrative staff “far too late” once pools were already scheduled to open. Certifications were expired or still in the process of being received, the source said.

From leaky lake houses to weighing in on development to, um, child labor fines, "far too late" is starting to sound like an appropriate replacement slogan for "Live, Work, Play," the end.