This Pizza Restaurant In Tampa Overworked Teens & Was Fined For Violating Child Labor Laws
This isn't the first time this franchise was investigated.
Marco's Pizza exterior. Right: A Marco's Pizza box.
A pizza franchise in Tampa was fined $7,950 by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday for overworking 15-year-olds and violating U.S. labor laws for teens under 16 years old.
The chain, Marco's Pizza, is located at 5918 Providence Road, Riverview, FL. The report says that the company which owns the eatery, American Pizza Empire LLC, had three teens working past 7 p.m. or longer than three hours on a school day and more than 18 hours a week during the school year.
According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, from June 1 until Labor Day, kids that are 14 and 15 years old are allowed to work until 9 p.m. Besides this time period, the demographic can only work until 7 in the evening.
One of the minors also operated a power-driven bakery machine used to stretch and flatten the dough and got a burn on their hand while making the pizza, which is considered a hazardous task for minors.
Page five of the FLSA bullet points these two specific violations. It reads: "They [14- and 15-year-old children] may not operate or tend any power-driven machinery, except office machines. They may not perform any baking operations."
This isn't the first time the pizzeria got in trouble for similar reasons. Five different establishments in December 2021 located in Charleston had to pay $101,027 in civil penalties after an investigation that found minors were performing dangerous tasks.
Not too long ago, a Chick-Fil-A in the same Florida city was fined over $12,000 after another investigation found teens working over the legal hours.
The Wage and Hour Divisions District Director in the Tampa area, Nicolas Ratmiroff, says it's important to understand the rules that go along with the age group of workers hired, as it "can lead to serious and costly consequences."
Narcity reached out to Marco's Pizza via Instagram requesting for comment and will update this article upon response.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.