• Locale, founded in 2020, began making food deliveries at the beginning of the pandemic.
• An investigation by the Department of Labor found the company in violation of federal child labor laws prohibiting teen delivery drivers.
• The department says Locale employed 78 teenage delivery drivers between July 2020 and July 2021.

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Locale — a Cupertino, California-based food delivery start-up — has been fined nearly $140,000 for violating child labor laws after employing dozens of teenage drivers to deliver food.

In a Wednesday news release, the US Department of Labor said Locale hired 78 teenagers as drivers to perform time-sensitive food deliveries between July 2020 and July 2021.

According to federal child labor laws, 16-year-olds are banned from driving jobs while 17-year-olds are not allowed to perform time-sensitive deliveries.

Although the department said it is not aware of any accidents involving the young drivers, Wage and Hour District Director Susana Blanco emphasized the safety risk of asking them to make deliveries.

"There are limits on what jobs young workers can perform," Blanco said in a statement. "In most cases, child labor laws prohibit minors from...

Read Full Story: https://www.businessinsider.com/california-food-delivery-start-up-fined-viola...