McDonald's fined for child labour law breach

A franchise owner of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain was yesterday convicted on three counts of allowing a 15-year-old boy to work outside the hours permitted under child labour legislation.

Morgan McStay who is a director, along with Jacqueline McStay, of Natline Ltd, trading as McDonald's, Main Street, Swords, Dublin, pleaded guilty to the offences at Dublin District Court before Judge Ann Ryan.

The court heard that during a random inspection of the restaurant's records last August, officials from the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment uncovered evidence that a 15-year-old boy had on three occasions worked past 8 p.m., by which time those under 16 are not permitted by law to work.

Mr Martin Dowd, a labour inspector with the Department, said the three counts before the court involved the same boy, Darren McCaul. He said records showed the teenager had worked until 9.04 p.m. on December 19th, 2003, to 9 p.m. on April 15th, 2004, and 9.46 p.m. on May 3rd, 2004.

He was 15 when all three incidents took place. Under the Protection of Young Persons Employment Act, 1996, he should have been off the premises by 8 p.m. Mr Dowd said the firm's records of dates and times worked by their employees were very comprehensive and that McStay and his company had been very helpful throughout the case.

McStay said his firm entered all staff details, including dates of birth, on a computer database. Because there were different restrictions for workers in different age brackets, rosters were drawn up using the computer programme and taking the ages of all staff into account.

A clerical error had occurred when Darren McCaul's details were entered. Darren was 6ft in height. "He didn't look his age, which would not remind you he was underage," McStay told the court. He said his firm had only hired children aged "15½" because "the labour market was tight". He had worked for McDonald's for around 20 years and had been a franchisee for five years. He was considered a good employer by parents and consulted parents closely before hiring anybody under 18.

Underage workers were given a copy of the conditions of their employment under law to give to their parents. Parents were encouraged to contact him if they ever had any queries.

Judge Ryan found the company guilty on the three counts before the court and struck out a fourth count. She imposed a fine of €500 for each of the three counts with 28 days to pay.

A spokeswoman for McDonald's in Ireland said the company had been unaware until yesterday about the details of the case. The breaches of the law had all taken place some time ago. McDonald's had just implemented a policy of not allowing fifth- and sixth-year students to work in its restaurants between Monday and Thursday. The firm was aware of the law and adhering to this legislation was a priority.