McDonald's restaurants in North Carolina violated child labor law: Labor Department
12 McDonald's restaurants in North Carolina fined for violating child labor law.
A dozen McDonald’s franchise restaurants have come under fire for allowing minors to work outside the legal limit.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division found that a North Carolina enterprise running 12 McDonald’s restaurants violated child labor laws by hiring 35 workers ages 14- and 15-years-old at its locations and allowed them to work outside their required work hours.
A franchise operating out of North Caroline with 12 McDonald’s locations is under fire for violating a child labor law. (iStock).
The Piedmont Triad area business, Mt. Airy Partners, paid a $17,586 penalty for violating the child labor requirements by allowing minors to work outside of the hours allowed for that age group, which is no more than three hours on a school day and between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. between Labor Day and June 1.
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“It is our top priority to maintain safe working conditions for all of our organization’s employees. We recognize the importance of federal, state, and local laws and regulations that ensure the well-being of our youngest team members," McDonald’s owner/operator Karen Gainey of Mt. Airy Partners told FOX Business in a statement, adding they are reviewing their policies and procedures.
The government agency also said the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) record-keeping mandates by failing to show proof of age for the majority of its minor employees.
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“Child labor laws exist to strike a balance between providing a meaningful work experience for young people and keeping them safe on the job so that the work does not jeopardize their health and well-being or educational opportunities. Employers must not allow 14 and 15-year-olds to work beyond legally permitted hours,” Richard Blaylock, a district director for Wage and Hour Division said in a statement.