Chick-fil-A let teen workers use a dangerous machine, feds say. NC franchisee must pay

Three minor teens working at a Chick-fil-A restaurant were allowed to operate a dangerous machine in North Carolina, federal officials said.

Now the location’s franchisee must pay up after violating child labor laws, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The three employees at Chick-fil-A’s Hendersonville location operated, loaded and unloaded a trash compactor, which is a hazardous machine under child labor regulations, the agency said in a Dec. 19 news release. The trio had to be at least 18 years old to use the machine.

The department fined the franchisee, Good Name 22:1 LLC, $6,450 to address the child labor violations, officials said.

“Child labor laws ensure that when young people work, the work does not jeopardize their health, well-being or educational opportunities,” Richard Blaylock, the department’s Wage and Hour Division district director in Raleigh, said in a statement.

McClatchy News contacted Chick-fil-A for comment on Dec. 19 and didn’t immediately receive a response. Contact information for the franchisee wasn’t immediately available.

Child labor law violations have risen in recent years and occasionally prove to be deadly, McClatchy News previously reported.

At the same Chick-fil-A location in Hendersonville, Wage and Hour Division investigators reported discovering some employees were paid in meal vouchers instead of money. These workers were asked to direct the restaurant’s traffic.

This violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the release.

In July, the Hendersonville Chick-fil-A shared a Facebook post asking if anyone wanted to work at the location for free meals, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Now, as a result, Good Name 22:1 LLC was fined $235 for back wages owed to seven employees, according to the DOL.

“Employers are responsible to pay workers for all of the hours worked and the payment must be made in cash or legal tender,” Blaylock said.

Hendersonville is about 110 miles west of Charlotte.

This story was originally published December 19, 2022 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Chick-fil-A let teen workers use a dangerous machine, feds say. NC franchisee must pay."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.