Qdoba fined over $400,000 for child labor law violations
Violations included minors working more than 48 hours a week, and too late at night.
Qdoba restaurants in Massachusetts allegedly violated child labor laws more than 1,000 times, and now the company has been cited over $400,000 in penalties by the state.Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said it began investigating all 22 Massachusetts corporate locations after an employee under 18 years old filed a complaint in March 2018 stating that she had worked late into the evening at a Newton restaurant.Qdoba continued to violate child labor laws from that time through May of this year, according to the attorney general.Among the violations Healey’s office found were that there were over 1,000 times that minors had worked beyond 10:30 p.m. on a school night, and nearly 200 times that minors had worked over 11 hours in a shift. Healey’s office also found 18 instances of a minor working over 48 hours in a week, and 25 times that Qdoba didn’t have the work permit required when hiring a minor. Each violation carried a $250 penalty, Healey’s office said.“A young worker’s first job is critical in teaching them about workplace rules, responsibility, and safety,” Healey said in the release.
