Two McDonalds restaurants in Surrey have been fined £12,400 for
exploiting child workers.
Ikhya Enterprises, which holds the franchises for the outlets in
Camberley, was fined after admitting 20 offences of illegally employing school
children.
Ten school children, including a girl who worked 16 hours on a Saturday
and another who worked until 2am on a school day, were found to be illegally
employed.
A spokesman for McDonalds said that the company took its responsibility
as an employer very seriously and only hired staff of above school leaving age.
He commented, “Our franchisee Kevin Izatt did hire staff below the
minimum school leaving age and breached the law in terms of hours worked. We
expect our franchisees and managers to maintain the highest standards in all
restaurants. We are deeply disappointed that this was not the case in this
instance.
“In court Kevin Izatt explained that he did have a manual system in place
to prevent infringements however there had been lack of follow-up.
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“To avoid any risk of repetition he will no longer employ children under
school leaving age.”
By Ben Willmott
