Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced that Pretzel King LLC, doing business as an Auntie Anne’s franchisee in San Bernardino, Downey, Arcadia, Glendale, Northridge and Bakersfield, Calif., has paid $51,500 in civil monetary penalties for allowing minors to work in violation of the youth employment provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The violations were discovered during a Wage and Hour Division investigation covering a two-year period ending March 2006. The investigation determined that the company had allowed 11 14- and 15-year-olds to work beyond the hours permitted by law and nine youths to be involved in baking, which is prohibited for 14- and 15-year-olds. The stores also allowed 60 minors to operate freight elevators, dough mixers and trash compactors, which are prohibited hazardous occupations for anyone under 18 years of age. Some of these minors had worked in more than one hazardous occupation.

“The Labor Department is committed to ensuring that all workers have safe and rewarding work experiences,” said George Friday Jr., the Wage and Hour Division’s regional administrator for the western states. “Restrictions on youth employment are designed to protect young workers. Working too long and with dangerous equipment is not acceptable.”

Following the investigation, the franchisee owner, Linda King of Glendale, agreed to correct the youth employment violations and comply with federal wage and hour laws in the future.

The Labor Department’s youth employment regulations identify 17 hazardous occupations prohibited for workers under the age of 18, including operation of trash compactors, freight elevators and dough mixers. The basic minimum age for employment in non-agricultural occupations is 14. Fourteen and 15-year-olds may work in certain occupations outside school hours but not before 7 a.m. and not later than 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 until Labor Day). They may not work more than three hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week or eight hours on a non-school day and 40 hours in a week when school is not in session.

The Labor Department’s YouthRules! Web site, www.youthrules.dol.gov, is designed to educate employers, young workers, educators and parents about youth employment, the jobs teenage workers may perform and the hours they may work. For further information about FLSA requirements, call the department’s toll-free helpline at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243), visit the department’s Web site at www.wagehour.dol.gov or contact the Wage and Hour Division’s office in Los Angeles at (213) 894-6375.

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