Teens burned using McDonald’s fryers and Dunkin’ ovens, feds say. Franchisees fined

Nine McDonald’s and 12 Dunkin’ franchise locations across New Hampshire and Vermont violated child labor laws in 2022, amidst a nationwide increase in violations in recent years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“We’re seeing a lot of child labor up here,” Department of Labor District Director Steven McKinney told McClatchy News. “We’re systematically seeing employers hiring younger workers and not being aware of the restrictions.”

One hundred eighty-six teenagers, aged 14 to 15, employed at 21 franchise locations in both states worked more than the number of hours federal law allows, according to a Sept. 12 news release from the department. This included working more than three hours on a school day or more than 18 hours in a school week, posing a risk to their education. Some of them worked up to 36 hours during a school week, according to McKinney.

The popular fast-food restaurants also allowed 35 teenagers to manually operate deep-fat fryers not equipped with devices that automatically raise and lower the baskets or allowed them to use high-speed ovens, which is prohibited, resulting in burns on eight minors, according to the department.

In the wake of the investigations performed by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, Coughlin Inc. and Vermont Donut Enterprises, franchisees of McDonald’s and Dunkin’, paid a combined $158,881 in penalties and signed enhanced compliance agreements devised to decrease future child labor violations, according to the department.

Some of the “best practice measures” included in the agreements are, as follows:

• the implementation of “color-coded name tags “ that identify workers by ages
• distribution of signage to prevent teenage workers from “using prohibited equipment”

• supervisors to attend training on “youth employment restrictions”

Vermont Donut Enterprises declined comment when contacted by McClatchy News, and Coughlin Inc. has yet to respond to a request for comment.

“A lot of it is employers who didn’t used to hire youth this young but they’re having a hard time finding people to work because of the (COVID-19) pandemic and labor shortages,” said McKinney, corroborating a national and global trend of increased child labor in recent years.

“If you’re going to hire this many youth, or youth in general, do some training on what the laws are,’‘ McKinney said. “Give the minors the materials when they start working so they’re aware as well.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2022 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Teens burned using McDonald’s fryers and Dunkin’ ovens, feds say. Franchisees fined."