Federal probe finds child labor violations at Pittsburgh McDonald's restaurants

A federal probe found 101 minor-aged workers were improperly scheduled at 13 McDonald’s restaurants in the Pittsburgh area, and one worker under 16 was allowed to operate a deep fryer that lacked an automatic basket-lifting device. The U.S. Department of Labor said the restaurants were operated by Santonastasso Enterprises LLC, a Bridgeville-based franchisee owned by John and Kathleen Santonastasso, and the company paid a civil money penalty of $57,332.

Investigators said the violations centered on basic scheduling and supervision failures. Fourteen- and 15-year-olds were put on shifts that ran longer than federal rules allow, including more than three hours on school days, after 7 p.m. on school nights, more than eight hours on non-school days and more than 18 hours in a school week. During the summer, those workers could legally stay until 9 p.m. between June 1 and Labor Day, but some were scheduled later than that. The department also said one minor under 16 was assigned to a fryer without a required safety feature, a task that federal law treats as off-limits because of the burn risk.

For restaurant managers, the case is a blunt reminder that child labor compliance is not just a payroll issue. It depends on whether someone is actively checking ages, shift lengths and job duties before schedules go out and before teens are put on the floor. John DuMont, the Wage and Hour Division district director in Pittsburgh, said excessive hours can jeopardize young workers’ safety, well-being and education. That is the practical problem at the center of this case: a store can drift into violations when staffing is thin, hours are tight and managers assume someone else is watching the restrictions.

The enforcement also lands in a fast-food industry still shaped by post-pandemic labor shortages, which have pushed some operators to lean harder on teenagers to cover gaps. That may solve a nightly staffing problem, but it can create legal exposure if crews are stretched into hours or tasks the law does not allow. For teens and parents, the takeaway is immediate: age-based limits are not suggestions, and a schedule that looks routine on a restaurant app can still be illegal.

The Labor Department said it identified child labor violations in more than 4,000 cases involving more than 13,000 minor-aged workers from fiscal year 2017 through 2021. In western Pennsylvania, the pattern resurfaced again on Nov. 27, 2023, when federal officials said Endor Inc., another McDonald’s operator in the region, employed 34 children to work later and longer than permitted and paid $26,894 in penalties.