Over 100 Wisconsin Burger King Locations In Hot Water Over Child Labor Violations

The days of sauntering into a local fast food restaurant as a teen and getting a job slinging burgers to the masses are long gone in some states. Nowadays, minors of certain ages must obtain a work permit to enter the workforce, even on a part-time basis. Companies have specific legal obligations regarding how they handle minors under their employ, like confirming they possess a work permit before they start the job. Unfortunately, a Burger King franchise that operates in the Wisconsin area has apparently been shirking some of those responsibilities, allowing minors to sell BK's latest "Whopper by You" without proof that they are allowed to do so.

Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development (DWD) initiated an investigation into Cave Enterprises, a franchise group that keeps the home of the Whopper running in eight different states, after receiving complaints it was violating the state's child labor laws. After conducting an exhaustive audit on the franchisee, the DWD discovered the company disregarded child labor laws over 1,600 times in recent years. More than 600 minors were victims of the company's infringements.

It appears that most of the violations center around minors not possessing a work permit and the Burger King stores not adhering to compulsory regulations concerning breaks. Amy Pechacek, the Wisconsin DWD Secretary, said, "This is the largest case that we have seen of youth working violations in modern history. We have quite honestly not seen anything to the depth and breadth of what this audit uncovered" (via Fox6 Milwaukee).

Cave Enterprises has about 30 Burger King locations in Milwaukee alone, with another 100 or so operating throughout The Badger State. Out of 105 stores investigated for dereliction of child labor laws, the Wisconsin DWD found 103 had violations. Roughly 84% of 14- to 15-year-olds started producing fresh Burger King burgers without a required work permit, and a shocking 45% had gone without a documented meal break after laboring 6 hours or more. Cave Enterprises also allegedly didn't pay 67 teens for overtime they worked.

The franchise may have thought it would be saving a buck or two by hiring younger, inexperienced workers, but the state of Wisconsin has indicated the price of breaching child labor laws will be steep. It has informed the franchise that it has just 20 days to cough up $237,000 for the young employees and pay a staggering $828,000 to the state for ducking the laws. Failure to comply with Wisconsin's demand will result in the state taking Cave Enterprises to court.