A McDonald's restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky operated by franchisee Bauer Food LLC had two 10-year-olds working at the restaurant, unpaid, sometimes until 2am. I doubt the kids were loving it. Bauer was hit with just a $39,711 in fines for the child labor violations.
"Below the minimum age for employment, they prepared and distributed food orders, cleaned the store, worked at the drive-thru window and operated a register," the US Department of Labor reported. "The division also learned that one of the two children was allowed to operate a deep fryer, a prohibited task for workers under 16 years old."
From CBS News:
Bauer Food franchise owner Sean Bauer told CBS News that the children were visiting their parent, who works as a night manager. He said the kids were not approved to be in that part of restaurant by franchisee organization management and that any work the children did was at the direction of, and in the presence of, the parent.
Bauer added that the company has worked to make sure the policy regarding children visiting parents and guardians at work is clear to all employees[…]
In addition to Bauer Food, LLC, the Wages and Hour Division also investigated Archways Richwood LLC and Bell Restaurant Group I LLC. The three franchisees operate 62 McDonald's locations across Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio.
The three franchisees employed 305 children to work more than the legally permitted hours, investigators found. The workers also performed tasks prohibited for minor employees.
