A cookie franchise has been fined nearly $58,000 for alleged child-labor law violations.
Crumbl Cookies was fined by the federal government for allegedly allowing employees as young as 14 to work in hazardous conditions, according to a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) press release.
The DOL launched an investigation into 11 Crumbl Cookies locations across six states and reportedly found 46 minors working in unsafe conditions.
Founded in 2017, Utah-based Crumbl Cookies has over 600 locations in 47 states.
The federal investigation reportedly revealed child labor violations in the company’s California, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington locations.
Some of the alleged violations involved allowing young employees to work more hours than the law permits. Others reportedly had them performing jobs that were hazardous or that they were not legally old enough for, including working ovens and other machinery.
“Employers must ensure that part-time employment does not jeopardize the safety or education of young workers,” said the Department of Labor’s wage and hour division regional administrator, Betty Campbell, in a statement.
“It is the responsibility of every employer who hires minor workers to understand child labor laws and comply with them or potentially face costly consequences.”
Federal child labor laws do not permit workers under 16 to work more than eight hours per day or 40 hours per week. Workers under 16 are also not allowed to work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. except during summer when permissible work hours are extended to 9 p.m.
No worker under 18 is allowed to do work considered hazardous by the federal government.
The Department of Labor issued $57,854 in penalties against those operators to settle the violations, according to ABC 8. The fines varied by location due to the severity of the violations.
Crumbl Cookies said in a statement that the company is taking steps to address the possible violations.
“We take any violation of federal labor laws very seriously. We were deeply disappointed to learn that a small number of our franchised locations were found to be in violation of these laws,” a Crumbl spokesperson said.
“We are actively working to understand what has occurred at these specific store locations and will take appropriate action to ensure that all of our franchisees are fully compliant with the law.”
The DOL claims unscrupulous child labor practices are on the rise, as it has reportedly uncovered more than 3,800 minors employed in violation of the law in 2022, an increase of 37% year-over-year. The number of minors working hazardous jobs was also reportedly up 26% in 2022.
Crumbl Cookies has 77 locations across Texas, according to its website.
