A McDonald’s franchisee has agreed to pay $25,920 in penalties for assigning hazardous work to minor-aged employees at three Santa Ana locations.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the restaurants, operated by Costa Mesa-based Man-Cal Inc. and Cal-Man Corp., had 18 minor-age employees loading and operating indoor trash compactors.
The practice, which occurred between June 16, 2019 and June 15, 2021, violated child labor laws.
The child labor regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act were established to support the educational opportunities of minors and protect them from unsafe work conditions. Hazardous Occupations Order No. 12, prohibits minors younger than 18 from loading, operating and unloading power-driven compactors and paper processing machines, including trash compactors and paper and cardboard balers.
In addition to the monetary penalties, franchise owner Virginia Mangione has agreed to implement additional training and oversight for managers and employees at all 10 of their franchise locations to prevent future violations.
Mangione did not return calls for comment on Wednesday.
Eric Murray, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division district director in San Diego, said the changes will ensure worker safety.
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“We advise all employers that hire youth to evaluate their current labor standards and do better for our children,” Murray said in a statement.
In any given week, an estimated 153,600 children work in violation of child labor laws, according to OnLabor, a blog devoted to workers, unions and their politics. The most common breaches are forcing minor-age employees to work excessive hours or work in hazardous occupations before the age of 18.
OnLabor said employers have become increasingly lazy concerning child labor violations for three reasons: Many states have rolled back child labor protections in a push to get more youths employed, child labor violations are sometimes difficult to identify, and enforcement is rare due to a lack of resources.