The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development found 1,656 child labor and wage violations at more than 100 Burger King locations across the state.
Gov. Tony Evers said it's the largest determination of child labor and wage payment violations in modern Wisconsin history.
DWD’s Equal Rights Division opened an investigation into Cave Enterprises Operations LLC, which operates 105 Burger King franchises across Wisconsin, after a review of department records revealed 33 separate child labor and wage payment complaints against individual franchises from 2020 to 2023. DWD reviewed records related to the employment of minors from Jan. 1, 2023, through Jan. 25, 2025, and determined that Cave Enterprises violated Wisconsin child labor laws at least 1,656 times during the investigative period.
"Out of the 105 Burger Kings, violations were found at nearly all of them. I think it was at 103 ," said DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek.
Wisconsin law requires that minors must be 14 years old to work, and that 14 and 15-year-olds must acquire a permit in order to work. During its 2-year audit, DWD said that 85% of Cave's employees ages 14 and 15, a total of 593 employees, began working without a child labor permit.
The DWD also alleged that 45% of all minor employees, a total of 627 employees, worked at least one shift of 6 or more hours without the law-mandated 30-minute duty-free meal break.
The DWD said Cave Enterprises had hundreds of minor employees under age 16 who worked before or...
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