The company that owned Syl’s restaurant has been fined more than $18,000 for violating child labor laws and found to have denied overtime pay, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday.

Syl’s in Rockdale, one of the area’s premier restaurants, closed in early January.

Premier Events & Banquets, which also manages the Renaissance Center in Joliet, illegally employed 25 minor-aged workers as bussers, runners and dishwashers after 7 p.m. on school nights and 9 p.m. on weekends, the Labor Department said in a news release. The allegations also found that some minors worked more than 18 hours a week.

Seven other workers were were denied overtime pay for work weeks that exceeded 40 hours, and the Labor Department recovered $2,671 in back wages for those workers, the release said.

The department assessed Premier $18,350 in civil penalties for violations of child labor laws.

“Child labor laws very specifically limit how many hours and at what times minors under 16 years of age can work,” Tom Gauza, district director in Chicago for the Labor Department Wage and Hour Division, said in the release. “Employers have a legal responsibility for making sure they provide a safe environment for minor-aged workers and that they do not interfere with their schooling or overall well-being.

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