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Fast food companies<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/14/child-labor-fast-food-franchises/" target=_blank> </a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/14/child-labor-fast-food-franchises/" target=_blank>fueled a surge in child labor violations </a>in 2023, with thousands of teenagers illegally scheduled to work late and long hours. Among them was high school senior Sebastian Marek, who got a job at a McDonald’s in Los Angeles to help his mom pay rent.

Managers scheduled Marek to work too long on school nights when he was 17. He lost sleep, missed classes and received warnings that he might not be able to graduate high school.

This nonfiction comic is based on extensive interviews with Marek, now 18, his mother, his co-workers, as well as data from the U.S. Labor Department, photographs and California labor commissioner records. Scenes and dialogue reflect their memories and The Post’s extensive reporting on child labor violations.

Fast-food giants overwork teenagers, driving America’s child labor crisis

Narration on a comic begins: I always thought of myself as a good student. But last year, I almost failed out of high school. It all started when my family fell into hard times. Illustration of a teenage boy sprinting into school. Annotation reads: Sebastian Marek, Los Angeles. Narration: My mom wasn’t going to be able to pay our rent, and I thought we might lose the house if I didn’t do something. Sebastian and his mom sit at dinner table eating ham tortas. She opens up an expensive bill, looking stressed. View of a laptop open to a job application with the McDonald’s logo. Close-up of Sebastian wearing a McDonald’s uniform with a name tag. Narration: So at 17, I got my first job at a McDonald’s in East L.A. that paid $16 an hour. 

Julia Mata

Narration: At first my workload and schedule were pretty manageable, and my managers respected my time.  Scene of Sebastian talking to a manager, in silhouette, in front of the McDonald’s location. Manager says: “School is always first priority” Narration: But after a few weeks of work, my managers started to take advantage of me. Date stamp: Nov. 2022 - Feb. 2023 Sebastian runs through a blurry background interspersed with fast food items. He says: I was scheduled to work six hours on school nights, 2-3 days a week plus full time on weekends and on the fryer which was prohibited on my work permit. I was sleeping only five hours a night. 

Info box: Child labor laws in California require employers to obtain work permits that state legal work hours from the Department of Education for each minor they employ. It’s illegal for employers to schedule 16 and 17 years olds to work more than 4 hours on any school day or past 10 p.m., and for more than 8 hours on weekends or past 12am. Legal work hours are even more limited for those under 16. The state revokes permits that are violated. McDonald’s says that its franchisees are the sole employers of the workers at their restaurants and the franchise owner of the McDonald’s where Sebastian worked denied that his franchise broke the law.  Illustration of Sebastian nearly falling asleep at his desk at school. An alarm clock buzzes for 7 a.m. Sebastian says: I fell really behind in everything, and it extremely impacted my grades. I didn’t turn in assignments, missed days of school to sleep. 

Scene of administrator lecturing Sebastian in a school office, holding a paper showing 26 unexcused absences and 70 late arrivals. Sebastian has his head in his hands. Administrator says: You’re at risk of not being able to graduate. Talking head of Sebastian in next panel says: I had already been accepted to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas when I started working. Getting in wasn’t a big deal, but I was worried about not being able to go.  Sebastian sits alone in the McDonald’s parking lot, crying. He texts: “I’m working again. Sorry, Dad, I can’t this weekend.”  Sebastian’s mom texts him from the dining table: “Muñequito, I’m worried about you. I miss you.”

Info box: More than half a century ago, Congress passed legislation intended to end the exploitation of minors under 18 at work. The legislation, effectively today’s “child labor laws,” was passed to protect the health, well-being and educational opportunities of kids.  Black and white scene of children working in textile mills in early 1900s] Scene of Sebastian and other teenagers working french fryers and bagging orders late at night at work at the McDonald’s. Infobox: Illegal child labor is on the rise in the United States. During the first nine months of 2023, the Department of Labor found more than 4,700 minors working in violation of labor laws and that’s expected to rise. 

A bar graph titled "Minors employed in violation of federal child labor laws." A bar graph shows the number of child labor violations from 2013 through September of 2023. The graph shows the number of children whose rights were violated rising steadily over time. There were 1,378 in 2013; 1,171 in 2014; 1,103 in 2015; 1,164 in 2016; 1674 in 2017; 2,765 in 2018, 2,837 in 2019; 3,367 in 2020, 3,110 in 2020; 3,110 in 2021; 4,070 in 2022; 4,736 in 2023 through Sept. 30. Source: Department of Labor; credit to Emmanuel Martinez/The Washington Post. Narration: McDonald’s says it takes every child labor violation seriously and provides ongoing training opportunities and resources to help its franchisees ensure compliance with child labor laws. The company also noted that Labor Department data shows that child labor violations are rare in the context of the company’s total U.S. footprint and do not reflect the vast majority of minor-aged crew members. The company has more than 800,000 workers at more than 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants, both franchised and corporate-owned. The company also noted that McDonald’s is a first job for thousands of teenagers, providing a positive economic impact on local communities and families, and helping young people build a strong work ethic and skills that they carry with them for life.

Scenes of a teenager working in McDonald’s on a Wednesday at 1 a.m. and one teen handing cash to his parents. Info box: Six of Sebastian’s coworkers faced similar pressures to work in violation of child labor laws, according to a complaint they filed with California’s labor commissioner’s office in June 2023.  Many of them were working to help their families pay the bills.    Quote from Matthew Tulaphorn, McDonald’s franchise owner: “We take our responsibility as a local employer in the East LA community seriously. It's important to us that all our employees have a safe and respectful work environment, and we are committed to following all labor laws. We've found these complaints to be unfounded.”

Sebastian makes a picket sign that reads, “On strike,” and says: Some of my coworkers started discussing how we could take action to improve our work situation and called a fast food workers labor rights organization, Fight for $15.  Sebastian and his coworkers march with strike signs that say: “I’m not Lovin It!!” and “Strike Now!” They carry a banner that says: "Fast food justice ahora.” He says: The organizers helped us launch a weeklong strike in protest of labor exploitation at our store. Around thirty of us walked off the job. After the strike, they transferred our general manager and also started following child labor laws.

Sebastian’s narration: In the end, I did graduate from high school and I started at University of Las Vegas this fall. I’m studying political science and want to go to law school. I’m proud to be the first in my family to attend college.  Scenes of Sebastian in a cap and gown earning his diploma at graduation; moving into his college dorm and hugging his family.

A full-length portrait of Sebastian as he says: But I’m still mad. The managers thought they could take advantage of us being minors. They thought they could get away with anything because these were our first jobs and we didn’t know our rights. 

<i>Editing by Jennifer Liberto, Hannah Good and Karly Domb Sadof. Design editing by Christine Ashack and Betty Chavarria. Copy editing by Dorine Bethea.</i>

Newswomen’s Club of New York's Best New Journalist Award, 2021

Sidney Hillman Foundation's Sidney Award, 2021

University of Chicago, BA in Comparative Literature

New York University, MA in Journalism and Latin American Studies

Lauren Kaori Gurley is the labor reporter for The Washington Post. She previously covered labor and tech for Vice's Motherboard. 

Lauren Kaori Gurley

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting, 2019

Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting, 2019

George Foster Peabody Award, 2019

Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, 2019

University of Califronia Irvine, BA in Literary Journalism

University of Southern California, MA in Journalism

Emmanuel Martinez is an investigative data reporter at The Washington Post, where he uses data, statistics and programming to tell stories. 

Emmanuel  Martinez

How a teen’s job violated child labor laws

the-washington-post

For The Washington Post

A teenage boy runs through a textured background interspersed with fast food items. He says: I was scheduled to work six hours on school nights, 2-3 days a week plus full time on weekends and on the fryer which was prohibited on my work permit. I was sleeping only five hours a night. 

childlabor-comic

Illustration of a teenage boy in a fast food uniform running through an abstract blurry void interspersed with fries, burgers, a milkshake, and other food items.

name

washpost

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/business&limit=20

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