A Wendy’s franchisee with locations in the Lehigh Valley endangered younger employees by allowing them to perform certain tasks and work more hours than the law allows, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations at stores in Allentown, Easton, Pottstown and Whitehall Township operated by Philly LIV Bacon LLC and three other corporations.
The violations include allowing 15-year-old workers to manually raise and lower fry baskets, the department said in a news release. By law, 14- and 15-year-old workers may only operate deep fryers that raise and lower baskets automatically.
Investigators said the employer permitted 14- and 15-year-olds to work for more than three hours on a school day, more than eight hours on a nonschool day and more than 18 hours during a school week, all violations of federal child labor standards.
Philly LIV Bacon LLC also failed to maintain proper records, the release said, adding that the company paid more than $15,000 in civil penalties and has taken steps to correct violations and ensure compliance at all of its restaurants in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.
The steps include training supervisors and managers on child labor requirements; providing child labor publications to all current and new workers under age 18; establishing an internal number that allows workers to report child labor violations anonymously; and providing workers under the age of 16 with a different...
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