Burger King and Popeyes Franchises Hit with $2.2 Million in Fines for Child Labor Violations in Massachusetts

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has gone after the franchise operators of Burger King and Popeyes, slapping the companies with hefty fines for many child labor law violations. The fines, amounting to well over $2.2 million, reflect new and increasing compliance risks associated with US wage and hour regulations as well as young workers. These investigations exposed pervasive offenses such as unlawful working hours for children, problems related to wages, and schedule restraints which are unlawful for local labor laws.

Various Burger King outlets in Massachusetts operated under Northeast Foods LLC were hit with more than $2m in penalties for violating labor laws extensively. The probe was launched following a complaint of nonpayment of wages by a worker and found problems in most of the cases impacting nearly 2000 employees. The company was also accused of mistreating children through assigning them work during legally prohibited hours, working 16 and 17 year olds more hours than the allowed nine hours a day and not paying workers adequately and on time.

The representatives of Burger King said that they informed the franchisee of the violations as soon as they became aware of them. The company said that the franchisee has introduced control measures with regards to management retraining; these are in the light of minor work hour regulation and the constant audit check of the company to ensure that in the future, there will be no such incidents.

Two franchisees operating 19 Popeyes restaurants in Massachusetts were hit with $212,516 in fines from the Attorney General’s office. The breaches included some that involved scheduling minors during banned hours as well as working in excess of mandatory daily and weekly hours of work. Also, some of the workers were alleged to have been barred from using their accumulated sick days to treat their ailments, a sign of other labor law violations.

The settlements highlight a growing national problem of employer violations of child labor laws, indicating that there may be major structural flaws in how fast-food and service industry franchises approach young workers’ scheduling and pay. They have been among the most active agencies combating such workplace regulatory encroachments by implementing the above actions.