Coakley
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has reached a $15,000 agreement with a Framingham Domino's Pizza franchise that settles allegations of child labor law violations.
The franchise, owned by Henry Askew, agreed to pay the penalties after Coakley's office initiated an investigation into claims that Askew employed minors beyond permitted work hours and maximum daily hours.
The investigation revealed that on 66 occasions between April 2007-June 2008, the restaurant employed 15-year-old workers beyond 7 p.m. on school nights and on eight occasions it employed 15-year-old workers beyond 9 p.m. during summer months.
In addition, the restaurant was found to have worked 15-year-old workers for more than eight hours a day and allowed 16-year-old workers to work past 11:30 p.m. during the summer.
Child labor laws in Massachusetts restrict workers of a certain age from working too late or working too many hours. A new amendment to the law also makes it illegal for minors to work past 8 p.m. without adult supervision.
Attorney General Coakley has also created a child labor law Web site -- www.laborlowdown.com.
The site is aimed at informing minors about the amount of money they should be paid and the restrictions on the number of hours they are permitted to work. It also spells out the types of jobs minors aren't permitted to hold, such as manufacturing facilities, machinery jobs and construction sites.