Shake Shack can pay out almost $250,000 for Massachusetts youngster labor regulation violations, Legal professional Basic Andrea Campbell introduced Tuesday.
“Our youngster labor legal guidelines shield susceptible younger folks as they embark on jobs to study expertise, give again to their communities, and earn their very own cash,” Campbell stated Tuesday. “I respect Shake Shack’s willingness to work with my workplace to remediate these points, and I’m grateful that they are going to make a major fee in the direction of bettering youth employment alternatives within the Commonwealth.”
The AG’s investigation discovered Shake Shack “did not get hold of legitimate work permits previous to using minors and scheduled minors for work throughout legally prohibited hours and in extra of the state’s 48 hour per week restrict,” violating state youngster labor legal guidelines. The violations included over 200 workers between January 2022 and December 2022, the AG stated.
The restaurant chain can pay $122,250 in penalties and a $122,250 fee to a state fund used for enforcement and training of state employment legal guidelines.
State officers have been initially tipped off to the violations through a criticism alleging minors at a Shake Shack in Woburn have been being required to work previous what they have been legally allowed to work, the workplace stated.
The AG’s workplace launched an investigation, discovering extra violations in twelve Shake Shack areas in Chestnut Hill, Cambridge, Dedham, Watertown, Woburn, Somerville, Burlington, Hingham, Everett, Andover, and Boston.
The corporate “totally cooperated with the AGO’s investigation and has taken steps to return into compliance with the regulation,” the AG stated.
Nonetheless, this isn’t the primary time Shake Shack was came upon of compliance with youngster labor legal guidelines in recent times. In 2019, the AG’s workplace stated, the restaurant chain equally settled a case with the state referring to youngster labor violations, together with “failure to acquire youth work permits and employment of minors throughout legally prohibited hours.”
Shake Shack agreed to pay $90,000 in penalties within the 2019 case, the AG stated.
Workers with the AGO’s Honest Labor Division dealt with the Shake Shack case. The AG famous $4 million in child-labor-related restitutions and penalties secured by the AGO’s Honest Labor Division throughout her administration on the Wholesome Summer season Youth Jobs Program over the summer season.
Massachusetts youngster labor legal guidelines embrace limitations on minor’s hour and job sorts and require all employers to acquire Youth Employment Permits for employees below 18 years outdated. Extra info on Massachusetts youngster labor legal guidelines and permits will be discovered on mass.gov/dols/youth.
Employees can discover extra info on office rights at mass.gov/in the past/fairlabor or by means of the AGO’s Honest Labor Hotline and report violations at mass.gov/in the past/fld.
