Chipotle Is Fined $1.4 Million in Vast Child Labor Case

Chipotle Mexican Grill was fined nearly $1.4 million over accusations that the fast food chain routinely violated Massachusetts child labor laws, with the authorities estimating more than 13,200 violations between 2015 and 2019, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office said on Monday.

The authorities examined the records of six restaurants across the state, in Seekonk, Hyannis, Methuen, Randolph, Framingham and Norwood. They found that between 2015 and 2019, Chipotle regularly let dozens of 16- and 17-year-old employees work more than nine hours per day and more than 48 hours per week, in violation of state law, according to the Massachusetts attorney general.

Chipotle also let minors work later into the night than legally allowed. On a night before a school day, 14- and 15-year-old children cannot work later than 7 p.m. and 16- and 17-year-old children cannot work later than 10 p.m. in Massachusetts, the authorities said.

The authorities used their findings in the six-restaurant sample to estimate that Chipotle had violated child labor laws about 13,253 times across 50 locations in the state, according to the attorney general’s office.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/business/chipotle-child-labor-laws-massachusetts.html?emc=rss&partner=rss