The US Department of Labor said on Tuesday that three McDonald’s franchise companies illegally employed 305 minors, including two 10-year-old children.
At age ten, two young children sometimes worked until two in the morning at a McDonald’s restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, without being paid. This was revealed by the US Department of Labor of the United States in a report published on Tuesday and relayed by our colleagues from Guardian and of CNN.
A total of 305 minors were employed by three franchise companies of the big fast-food brand and which manage around 60 restaurants in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.
The US government accuses these three companies (Bauer Food LLC, Archways Richwood LLC and Bell Restaurant Group I LLC) of having made these children work more than the time allowed by law.
“Unacceptable”, “troubling” situations
In the United States as in France, adolescents over the age of 16 can work. For those aged 14 or 15, work is allowed, but within a framework defined by lawin particular concerning working time per day and per week.
Contacted by CNN, Bauer Food LLC justifies the presence of the two ten-year-old children late at night in the kitchens of a restaurant by explaining that they are the children of a night manager. But the management of the company specifies that it has never given such authorization to one of its employees.
With CNN, Tiffanie Boyd, representative of McDonald’s USA, denounces “unacceptable”, “troubling” situations and assures that her company is committed to “ensuring that our franchisees have the resources they need to (… ) comply with all laws.”
The Guardian states that more than 90% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are franchised restaurants.
Hundreds of cases in 2022
“Too often, employers fail to comply with child labor laws that protect young workers,” said US Department of Labor Karen Garnett-Civils, Louisville-based child labor officer, in a press release. Kentucky.
Fines totaling $212,544 were imposed on Bauer Food LLC, Archways Richwood LLC and Bell Restaurant Group I LLC.
This kind of case is not a first. In 2022, the US government was able to list 688 cases of illegally employed minors, the statement said. Among them, a 15-year-old minor was injured while using a deep fryer at a McDonald’s in Morristown, Tennessee, in June 2022.
