A McDonald’s in Louisville, Kentucky, lost all of its marbles after it “employed” two 10-year-old children and forced them to work during ungodly hours and operate dangerous equipment.
Per a U.S. Department of Labor report published on May 2, the department’s Wage and Hour Division investigated several establishments in the Southeast region to ensure they weren’t violating child labor laws. The division discovered three McDonald’s franchise operators — Bauer Food LLC, Archways Richwood LLC and Bell Restaurant Group I LLC — employed 305 minors, all working over the legally permitted hours and performing tasks verboten to children.
These three franchisees operate 62 McDonald’s restaurants across Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio.
The two 10-year-old underaged employees worked at a Louisville McDonald’s, operated by Bauer Food LLC. They worked as late as 2 a.m., distributing food, running the cash register, cleaning the restaurant and working the drive-thru window without getting paid. An employer greenlighted one of them to operate the deep fryer despite numerous accident reports regarding adult employees using it.
A minor in Tennessee suffered severe burns last month while using the deep fryer.
“Too often, employers fail to follow the child labor laws that protect young workers,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Karen Garnett-Civils in Louisville stated. “Under no circumstances should there ever be a 10-year-old child working in a fast-food kitchen around hot grills, ovens and deep fryers.”
The division found that Archways Richwood LLC, a Walton-based operator of 27 McDonald’s locations, enabled 242 minors between 14 and 15 to work past the permitted hours during school days.
Bell Restaurant I LLC operates 20 locations in Maryland, Kentucky and Indiana. The division found that 39 workers, ages 14 and 15, worked over the permitted hours during school and non-school days and weeks without getting paid overtime. Investigators also found $14,730 in liquidated damages and back wages for 58 employees.
The investigation resulted in the barbarous franchisees paying $212,544 in civil money penalties. Bauer Food LLC has to pay $39,711, Archways Richwood LLC must pay $143,566, and Bell Restaurant Group I LLC has to pay $29,267.
“We are seeing an increase in federal child labor violations, including allowing minors to operate equipment or handle types of work that endangers them or employs them for more hours or later in the day than federal law allows,” Garnett-Civils said of the investigation. “An employer who hires young workers must know the rules.”
The Wage and Hour Division prohibits 14 or 15-year-olds from working over three hours on school days (including Fridays), over 18 hours a week when school is in session, and more than eight hours a day and 40 hours a week when school isn’t in session.
They can’t work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. unless from June 1 to Labor Day, when the hours extend to 9 p.m.
They are kept from working hazardous jobs, from transportation and construction to warehousing and communications. Any jobs dealing with mining, freezers or meat coolers are prohibited. They aren’t allowed to engage in door-to-door sales jobs or sign waving.
It’s unclear if the 10-year-olds’ parents knew they were working at 2 a.m. without pay, but hopefully, they’re also investigated.
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