Owner of 13 McDonald's restaurants accused of child labor violations
“It’s surprising that they would have that many 14- and 15-year-olds working in violation of the hours standard,” said Labor Department Wage and Hour Director John DuMont.
“It’s surprising that they would have that many 14- and 15-year-olds working in violation of the hours standard,” said Labor Department Wage and Hour Director John DuMont.
“It’s surprising that they would have that many 14- and 15-year-olds working in violation of the hours standard,” said Labor Department Wage and Hour Director John DuMont.
The U.S. Labor Department has found 101 child labor violations at 13 McDonald’s restaurants throughout western Pennsylvania.
The restaurants are owned by Santonastasso Enterprises of Bridgeville. The Labor Department said the company paid a $57,332 fine.
The government said the franchise owner allowed 14- and 15-year-old employees to work outside permissible hours. The violations include minors working:
- More than 3 hours per day and after 7 p.m. on school days when the law forbids work beyond that time.
- Later than 9 p.m. on days between June 1 and Labor Day, when they may legally work until 9 p.m.
- More than 8 hours on a non-school day, and more than 18 hours a week during a regular school week.
Inspectors also found one case where a minor was illegally operating a deep fryer.
“It’s surprising that they would have that many 14- and 15-year-olds working in violation of the hours standard,” said Labor Department Wage and Hour Director John DuMont.
One of the franchises with minors working illegal hours is in Oakland near Pitt and Carnegie Mellon. Several students who are patrons said they were outraged.
“It's not a good thing, obviously. This shouldn't be happening, especially in this day and age, and there's definitely people out there who can work, so it sounds like an exploitation kind of thing, and it's very important that they put a stop to this,” CMU student Sherzoy Jan said.
Another student agreed.
“It is pretty messed up to have an establishment that's exploiting child labor but I guess there are a lot of people that would be vulnerable because we are in a university area, and there are a lot of people looking for part-time jobs,” CMU student Tioluwani Ajani said.
DuMont said parents need to be mindful of employers seeking to take advantage of children during the holidays.
“Right now, near the holiday season is where we're more apt to see more of these violations with employers trying to bring on minors to fill in employment gaps,” he said.
A statement from franchise owners John and Kathleen Santonastasso said the following:
“We take our role as a local employer very seriously and we regret any scheduling issues that may have occurred at our restaurants. Our biggest priority is always the safety and well-being of our employees and we have since instituted a series of new and enhanced processes and procedures to ensure employees are scheduled appropriately.”