NEW YORK: Child labour violations in the United States have increased in recent years, while “some well-known companies and consumer-facing name brands” have been caught employing children for dangerous and exhausting work, Xinhua quoted a CNN report on Sunday.
“A tight labour market has prompted many employers to search for the cheapest available labour; state legislators are even pushing bills that would limit legal protections for underage workers,” said the report.
At 16 McDonald’s franchise locations in Louisiana and Texas, children as young as 14 operated “dangerous equipment and worked long and late hours”, the US Department of Labour (DOL) said in late July.
In May, the department found two 10-year-olds working without pay until as late as 2 am at a McDonald’s restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, according to a DOL release.
Between Oct 1, 2022, and July 20, the DOL concluded 765 child labour cases, found 4,474 children employed in violation of federal child labour laws, and assessed more than US$6.6 million in penalties against employers.
That’s a 44 per cent increase in the number of children illegally employed and an 87 per cent increase in penalties compared to the same period the year before, according to the department. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
