McDonald's franchisees that operate 62 locations across Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, and Ohio are facing more than $212,000 in fines for child labor violations. The details of the offenses shocked the nation, with some children as young as 10 years old working until as late as 2 a.m. But child labor violations are increasingly common — and lawmakers across several states are working to weaken protections at the state level.
"This has to be viewed on largely as simply the latest multi-industry attempt and moment of opportunity that they're seeing where they have very significant influence in some state legislatures to, once again, try to roll back standards," Jennifer Sherer, Economic Policy Institute senior state policy coordinator, told Cheddar News.
The number of instances of child labor exploitation has surged in recent years. There were 1,012 minors found to be employed in violation of labor laws in 2015 and 355 employed in violation of hazardous occupation orders that year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Hazardous occupation orders are intended to prevent kids from working dangerous jobs like mining, roofing, or working with heavy machinery. By 2022, 3,876 minors were found to be working in violation of labor laws and 688 in violation of hazardous occupation orders.
Three McDonald's franchisees are a recent high profile example of the issue. In some cases children were tasked with dangerous jobs like operating a deep fryer or the drive through, according...
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