15-year-olds were allowed to work fryer at Bojangles, feds say. Company will now pay
Young workers at a Bojangles in Tennessee were allowed to use manual grease fryers and work during school hours, federal officials said.
The company has now been fined $27,586, the Department of Labor said in a Jan. 9 news release.
The nation’s largest Bojangles franchise is under scrutiny for the second time in two years. The latest citation concerns the chain’s restaurant in Powell after a Bojangles in Spartanburg, South Carolina, was fined more than $11,000 on accusations of similar child labor violations in 2022, according to the agency.
Labor officials said the Powell Bojangles employed 13 minors who worked more hours than allowed under federal law during the school year, as well as during school hours.
Three 15-year-olds also worked the grease fryers and used the oven to make biscuits, which are considered “hazardous” tasks for young employees, federal officials said.
The franchise, BOJ of WNC, will pay the civil money penalty and take steps to prevent violations going forward, as part of a compliance agreement the franchise reached with the Department of Labor.
“We are committed to being a responsible employer, and we have taken this matter from 2022 very seriously,” a spokesperson for BOJ of WNC said in a statement to McClatchy News. “We responded quickly and put an action plan in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The company agreed to prevent 14- and 15-year-olds from using the fryers or doing other hazardous tasks, post signage on equipment they can’t use, stop staffing young workers outside of permitted hours, and take other measures to ensure managers, young workers’ and their parents are aware of child labor laws.
“While learning new workforce skills is a valuable part of growing up, an employer must never jeopardize the safety and well-being of young workers or interfere with their education,” labor official Juan Coria said in the release.
The new compliance measures will affect minor workers at the franchise’s 118 restaurants in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio, officials said. The franchise employs roughly 4,000 workers across all its locations.
Powell is in eastern Tennessee, about 10 miles northwest of Knoxville.
This story was originally published January 10, 2024 at 1:01 PM with the headline "15-year-olds were allowed to work fryer at Bojangles, feds say. Company will now pay."