Opportunity: Knocked

Conway businesswoman Rhea Lana Riner, whose namesake kids’ clothing consignment firm has a blockbuster franchise in Northwest Arkansas, has drawn unwelcome attention from the U.S. Department of Labor for using volunteers to help with its semiannual, weeklong sales events.

The agency says the company violates the Fair Labor Standards Act by having volunteers work about four hours setting up for an event in exchange for first pick at the merchandise. The department’s investigators concluded the “volunteers” are actually employees who must be paid at least minimum wage.

In a column published June 19 in USA Today’s opinion section, Riner wrote: “The business model that parents thought was an innovation, but that Labor sees as a menace, is simple but effective. You might have heard of it: cooperation.”

She added that by the Labor Department’s “dreadful logic,” Build-a-Bear Workshops use child labor when they let kids build their own teddy bears.

Rhea Lana’s, which Riner started from her home in 1997, has franchises in 22 states. Riner’s sister, Ashley Shaver Noland, owns the one in Northwest Arkansas.