A Popeyes fast-food franchisee has paid $212,000 for child labor and wage violations at its restaurants in East Oakland, Newark and Tracy, federal regulators announced this week.
Minors under 14 years old are not allowed to work at food service establishments. But the company, 14th Street Chicken, hired children as young as 13 and had minors working longer hours than permitted by law, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Johmara Romero, who alerted workplace regulators about those problems last year as a 17-year-old cashier at the employer’s Oakland location, said the risk she took as a whistleblower “was worth it.”
“From what I’ve heard, there’s a lot more people speaking up now,” said Romero, who is now 18 and working as a grocery store cashier. “I feel like that’s good because you shouldn’t keep quiet about stuff that shouldn’t be going on at work. … You have to speak up.”
Romero told KQED she observed colleagues as young as 13 working late into the night, almost to midnight, which interfered with their learning at school. Romero spoke publicly about other workplace violations, too, alleging she and other minors experienced sexual harassment by managers who made crude jokes.
Following her allegations, Romero said her hours were cut, and she left the job.
In addition to the child labor violations, Department of Labor investigators found that 14th Street Chicken shortchanged workers by not paying them overtime earnings.
The agency recovered nearly $80,000 in unpaid...
(New users only) Unlock 5.5%* + 10%* p.a. promo rate for 3 months via Versa and enjoy FREE RM10 & when you sign up using code VERSAMM10 with min. cash of RM100 today! T&Cs apply. WASHINGTO...