Kentucky Wendy’s operator fined for violating child labor laws, ordered to give back pay for OT
An Edgewood-based company that operates 10 Wendy’s restaurants in Northern Kentucky has been fined for violating federal child labor laws and ordered to pay back pay to some employees who did not receive the proper amount of overtime pay.
The U.S. Department of Labor said Sinkula Investments Ltd. Co. paid a civil penalty of $16,160 because it allowed 14- and 15-year-olds to operate hazardous equipment including “gas ranges, pressure cookers and deep fryers not equipped with an auto-lift feature to lower and raise baskets into and out of hot grease,” according to a news release.
Allowing the teens to operate the equipment was a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The company also paid a total of $11,482 to 37 employees who had not been paid the amount of overtime pay they were owed. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division said the workers had been paid overtime of time-and-a-half based on their regular hourly pay rates. But production bonuses should have been included in their pay rates when overtime pay was calculated, the Wage and Hour Division said. Because the bonuses were not factored in, the employees’ overtime pay rate was less than what the law requires when people work more than 40 hours a week.
Sinkula’s website says it is a family-owned business that operates Wendy’s restaurants in Florence, Newport, Covington, Hebron, Edgewood, Union, Alexandria and Cold Spring.
Last month, a Louisville McDonald’s franchisee was fined for child labor violations.
“Child labor laws exist to strike a balance between providing meaningful work experience for young people and keeping them safe on the job while not interfering with their educational opportunities,” Karen Garnett-Civils, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Louisville district, said in the news release. “The U.S. Department of Labor will continue to work to ensure minor employees remain safe on the job and that all workers are paid the wages they have earned. We encourage all employers – especially those who employ minors – to review their employment obligations and to contact the Wage and Hour Division for compliance assistance.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 6:04 PM.
