The restaurant industry’s recent labor problems have had a somewhat unsavory side - operators desperate to staff their businesses have been cutting corners when it comes to child labor laws.
The U.S. Department of Labor recently assessed more than $200,000 in penalties against three fast food franchisees for employing underaged youth. Those operators were found to have hired and scheduled 305 children, some as young as 10 years old, in 62 different locations.
Across the U.S. economy as a whole, child labor law violations have increased during the pandemic years, with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division having conducted more than 800 investigations involving such violations during last year alone.
Not surprisingly in a divided America, there’s been pushback against these enforcement efforts.
Lobbyists and legislators in a number of states, primarily across the Midwest, have been working to loosen restrictions on the hours and circumstances under which teens can be employed.
These proposals, most of which seem to be on their way to becoming law, permit school age employees to work later on school nights and to put in longer weekday shifts. Some also reduce restrictions on the handling of alcoholic beverages by underage employees.
Proposed legislation in Iowa even provides for a special class of driver’s license that could be issued to 14-year-olds. Holders of those special licenses would then be able to drive themselves to and from a job.
With the shortage of...
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