Children are among the most vulnerable section of the population, and hence it is important that as a society, we remain extremely cognisant of child labour protection laws. As reported by Daily Mail, a McDonald’s franchise owner have been found to be committing some serious violation of child protection laws in the US.
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The report states that husband and wife John and Kathleen Santonastasso, the owners of Santonastasso Enterprises LLC, which owns 13 McDonald’s franchises in Pittsburg, USA, have been found to have violated child labour laws and fined $57,332 for the crime.
Child labour law violation
Department of Labor's John DuMont, is quoted by the report as saying,
Permitting young workers to work excessive hours can jeopardize their safety, well-being and education.
Employers who hire young workers must understand and comply with federal child labor laws or face costly consequences.
It is reported that the couple hired as many as 101 children to work in their McDonald's restaurants, some of them as young as 14. The couple was also found to have employed children for more than 8 hours a day during the weekends and more than 18 hours in a week.
The Santonastasso have responded to the ruling with the following statement,
We take our role as a local employer very seriously and we regret any scheduling issues that may have occurred at our restaurants.
Unsafe working conditions
While it is bad enough that the couple illegally employed children as part of their workforce, they also created inappropriate working conditions for these under-age workers. 14 and 15-year-olds were regularly allowed to work for more than 3 hours, which included working after 7 PM even on school days and later than 9 PM during the summer.
Children were also found using dangerous machineries. One 16-year-old was allowed to operate a deep fryer which legally, young employees should not be doing without taking adequate legally mandated precautions.
Sources used:
Daily Mail: ‘Not lovin' it! Wealthy husband and wife McDonald's franchisees are fined $57,000 for overworking 101 children as young as FOURTEEN in their Pittsburgh restaurants’
