Beware Child Labor Laws
An often overlooked area of labor and employment law are child labor laws. Such laws exist at both the federal and state level. And they are indeed enforced at each of those levels of government. For example, I am currently involved in a federal labor wage and hour audit and one item requested by the investigator was all documents reflecting the client’s hiring of minors. Most of us are familiar with these types of documents that were requested in my audit, i.e. working papers that a minor needs to be employed. But did you know that there are other restrictions under Federal and New Jersey law that go along with hiring minors, such as limits on the number of hours that the minor can work and that you must give minors a certain number of break periods per shift? For the Chipotle restaurant chain, it recently learned the hard way about these requirements, to the tune of a $7.75 million dollar fine paid to the New Jersey Department of Labor (“NJDOL”) for violating these New Jersey child labor law requirements that apply whenever an employer employs any minor worker who is under the age of Eighteen (18) years old.
The NJDOL led the investigation against Chipotle and collaborated with the Affirmative Civil Rights and Labor Enforcement Section of the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Law. The audit covered violations cited at four Chipotle locations—Fort Lee, Bloomfield, Mays Landing and Parsippany—between 2016 and 2018. New Jersey is not the only state that had uncovered child labor violations by the franchise. In Massachusetts, Chipotle agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution and penalties for child labor violations at 50 locations within that state. Employers should be aware: the NJDOL often investigates companies when the agency learns that other governmental agencies have investigated and fined a company. This is frequently the source for why companies get audited in New Jersey.
The violations alleged against Chipotle included its failure to abide by legally set limits on the number of hours minors are allowed to work and the failure to provide both timely and sufficient meal breaks for its minor employees. Along with paying the hefty fine previously mentioned above, Chipotle also signed an agreement to develop and implement measures for monitoring future child labor law compliance. Specifically, Chipotle agreed to a long-term strategy to ensure the franchise’s future compliance with New Jersey state law, including periodic self-audits, designing a child labor compliance manual, and mandatory training for all current and future managers, supervisors, and staff members. The company also agreed to other various conditions to foster a safe working environment that is both lawful and rewarding to minor employees.
So what is the moral of this story? Child labor law compliance does not just stop at obtaining working papers for your minor employees. Remember that child labor laws in New Jersey specify the number of hours minors may work depending on both their age and whether it is summer or if school is in session. Failing to comply with these requirements can be costly for your business. Just ask Chipotle about that.
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