A North Carolina Chick-fil-A franchisee is in hot water with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for allowing three teen workers to operate a trash compactor.
Operating, loading and unloading trash compactors is a violation of federal child labor regulations prohibiting minors from performing hazardous jobs.
The DOL Wage and Hour Division investigation also found the employer was paying employees who directed traffic in meal vouchers rather than wages.
Good Name 22:1 LLC will pay $6,450 to address the child labor law violations as well as $235 in back wages to the seven employees who were paid in meal vouchers.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) prohibits minors from operating motor vehicles, forklifts, trash compactors and other kinds of hazardous equipment. It also prohibits minors under the age of 14, and 14- and 15-year-old employees, from working later than 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day and past 7 p.m. the remainder of the year. Teen workers can’t work more than three hours on a school day, more than eight hours on a non-school day or more than 18 hours per week.
More information on the FLSA and child labor laws can be found here.
