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A Kentucky McDonald’s was fined by authorities this week after it allowed children to carry out unpaid work, with one of them illegally using the deep fryer.
The U.S. Department of Labor said on Tuesday that its investigators had discovered two 10-year-old children working in the kitchen at a Louisville McDonald’s restaurant.
They were employed—but not paid—by Bauer Food LLC, a Louisville-based operator of 10 McDonald’s locations, officials said, and sometimes worked as late as 2 a.m. preparing and distributing orders, cleaning the store, working the drive-thru window and operating cash registers.
One of the two children was allowed to operate a deep fryer, which is banned by law for workers under the age of 16.
Children below the age of 14 are generally not permitted to work in any capacity under federal law, and those aged 14 to 15 have limits on the number of hours they can work, particularly on school days.