Pizzagate – Child Labor Laws Bar Minors From Working As Delivery Drivers
"You can't buy happiness. But you can buy pizza, and that's kind of the same thing."
-- Anonymous
Everyone loves a good pizza, cooked and delivered to your door by someone else, especially in this pandemic era. But no one loves a child labor violator.
A Gainesville, VA pizza parlor paid and $11,052 civil money penalties (“CMP”) for employing six 17-year old minors as delivery drivers. According to a Department of Labor (“DOL”) press release:
For 17-year-old drivers, the Centers for Disease Control cites inexperience, distracted driving, and night and weekend driving as factors that place them among those with the highest risk for motor vehicle crashes. Putting drivers this age behind the wheel to make “as soon as possible” deliveries also violates federal child labor laws, a fact ignored by the operators of a Virginia pizza restaurant.
The investigation focused on Pizza Margherita Inc. NY – operating as Pizza NY Margherita in Gainesville – employed six 17-year-old minors to work as delivery drivers. The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits minor employees from driving a motor vehicle to make urgent, time sensitive delivieries.
As DOL further notes in the press release, quoting the local area director:
“Employing a minor to operate a motor vehicle to make food deliveries not only endangers the driver, it also puts other drivers at an increased risk for collisions. Fortunately, the worst-case scenario did not occur in this instance, however, we hope this action reminds employers in the industry of the rules related to youth employment, especially in light of the rise in demand for food deliveries during the pandemic[.]”
The FLSA provides for both hours of work and accupational standards for minor employees. Youth under age 18 may not be employed in any occupation the Secretary of Labor has declared to be hazardous. Employers are required to follow those rules unless a specific exemption applies. Ignore them at your peril and get written up in a nation-wide circulated government press release.
A recent upward adjustment in the CMP to account for Inflation has lifted child labor violations to a penalty of $2,074 per violation, while more serious violations including death could lead to CMPs of $13,227 to $60,115. See https://www.awrcounsel.com/blog/2021/1/19/2dy3ijz5wt67ffujni2b2kpztl12hw.
That $11,052 penalty for six minor workers improperly engaged would have paid for a lot of cheese. Perhaps a little more upfront legal counsel would have been wise. Perhaps it was pennywise, pizza foolish.