Children Found Working Until 2AM at McDonald’s

Updated on May 5, 2023

• Two 10-year-old children were found working unpaid shifts until 2 a.m. at a Kentucky McDonald's restaurant during a Department of Labor investigation into child labor law violations in the Southeast U.S.
• The children worked the cash register and drive-thru, cleaned the floors, and operated the deep fat fryer, a flagrant breach of American labor laws.
• The children had access to "dangerous equipment," which is banned for employees under 16.
• The children were not paid for any of their work.
• Sean Bauer, the franchise owner of McDonald's, said the children were visiting their parent, who works as a night manager and working at their parent's instruction, not the franchisee.
• In a news release, The Department of Labor (DoL) said:

"Investigators from the department's Wage and Hour Division found two 10-year-old workers at a Louisville McDonald's restaurant among many violations of federal labor laws committed by three Kentucky McDonald's franchise operators."

• The DoL released information that points to a larger problem of underpaid and overworked minors.
• They found three franchisees, who own more than 60 McDonald's locations in Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, and Ohio, were found to have "employed 305 children to work more than the legally permitted hours and perform tasks prohibited by law for young workers."
• The DoL said the three franchisees face combined fines of $212,754 for labor violations.
• Karen Garnett-Civils from the DoL said:

"Too often, employers fail to follow the child labor laws that protect young workers. Under no circumstances should there ever be a 10-year-old child working in a fast-food kitchen around hot grills, ovens and deep fryers."

What's the story?

• Fast food lobbyists have gathered enough signatures to trigger a statewide referendum on California’s Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery (FAST) Act.
• The Act, passed by Democrat Gov. Gavin Nelson on Labor Day, would have improved working conditions and raised the minimum wage to $22/hour for fast food workers. 
• The issue will now be voted on by Californians on Nov. 5, 2024.

Wage shortage or labor shortage?

• California’s move to raise the minimum wage is only one approach to the fast food labor shortage, and to the demands of movements like Fight for $15.
• Employers in various states are recruiting 14- and 15-year-olds to help address the labor shortage.
• Other solutions to address the labor shortage without raising the minimum wage include hiring prison labor or creating an immigrant worker scheme.

Different States, Different Solutions

California

• Due to industry pressure, and a lobbying spend of over $1.5 million, the vote Act may not come into effect. 
• The fast food industry has argued that the wage hike would result in inflation and more expensive meals.
• This argument has been frequently undermined. Purdue found that a $15 minimum wage would result in a price increase of just 4.3%.

Wisconsin

• A viral TikTok that showed a child working at a Culver's sparked controversy, causing many to question the legality of the work arrangement. 
• According to Newsweek coverage, a rational explanation could be that the child's parents owned or operated the franchise.
• There is an exemption to child labor laws that allows minors under 16 to work in a business owned or operated by their parents for an unlimited number of hours.
• In Wisconsin, Republican state senators approved a bill titled SB332, and sent it to the Wisconsin state assembly. The bill would allow for an expansion of work hours for minors under the age of 16 and would allow them to work until 9:30 on school nights.
• Over the past ten years, Wisconsin Republicans have successfully passed several bills to weaken child labor laws and eliminate limits on working hours for teens.
• A 2011 bill replaced the term "child labor" with “employment of minors” in all state laws.

Oregon

• A McDonald's in Medford, Oregon went viral for its signs advertising jobs for teens as young as 14.
• Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the minimum age for working in non-agricultural jobs is 14 but their shifts cannot conflict with school hours. They cannot be given shifts after 7 p.m. on school nights and they cannot take overnight shifts.
• Children under 15 are limited to 18 hours of work during school weeks.

Ohio

• Three Republicans and one Democrat in the Ohio state senate introduced a bill to increase the hours minors under the age of 16 are permitted to work during the school year.
• A Burger King in Ohio went viral for their advertisement asking parents if their teenage children needed jobs.

What do you think the right solution is? Higher wages, lower ages, or neither?

—Emma Kansiz