Child Labor and Unhappy Meals.
The next time you see those innocent, smiling teenagers working the counter, fryer, or drive-through window at your local fast-food joint, consider whether they are laboring illegally.
Apparently, those kids may “have the beef,” even though the restaurants claim they’re “lovin’ it.”
Federal investigators announced in December that they had slammed 13 McDonald’s locations in the Pittsburgh area with child labor law violations involving 101 workers, aged 14 to 16. According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the teens worked outside legally permissible hours, including more than three hours per day and after 7:00 p.m. on school days, working later than 9:00 p.m. during the summer, and – the cardinal sin of pommes frites – a 16-year-old operating a deep fryer without an automatic device to lower and raise the baskets.
And, a month later, the DOL announced it had caught 14 Arby’s locations in South Carolina committing very similar violations involving 65 child workers and roast beef.
If your company or institution employs children, make sure that someone checks and follows federal and state child labor laws. Pennsylvania’s rules are here.