The AG’s office has issued 287 citations over the past three years for violations of child labor laws, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Thursday, just as she fined Dave & Busters for overworking minors and breaking meal break laws.
Campbell said those citations have amounted to $1.3 million in penalties, covered roughly 2,000 minors, and affected 127 employers. And children, especially those of migrant families, who are stuck in illegal labor situations often feel afraid or that they have no other options to make money, the attorney general said.
“They’re afraid that their employers will retaliate against them or their families. They’re afraid that coming forward might expose them to immigration enforcement. Too often, they feel they don’t have a choice,” Campbell said at a press conference in Boston. “I, along with the team, want to be crystal clear that they do have a choice.”
Campbell urged more education on child labor laws after her office announced it had reached a settlement with Dave & Busters over child labor violations.
The arcade chain agreed to pay a $275,000 fine for not providing meal breaks of at least 30 minutes to employees who worked shifts longer than six hours, not obtaining work permits for minors before they began employment, and employing 16- or 17-year-old children for later hours than permitted under state law, according to a Thursday statement.
Campbell’s office said they began to investigate the Texas-based arcade chain — which operates locations in Braintree, Natick, and Woburn — after a parent accused the company of making their child work past midnight on a weekend. Dave & Busters, according to Campbell, employed “several minors” without work permits.
Children under 16 and 17 years old are barred from working later than 10 p.m. on school nights, Campbell’s office said.
“We want young workers and their families to know about their rights and, of course, these laws,” Campbell said. “And we want them to know about these laws because these are the laws designed to protect them. And we want employers to know of their legal obligations too.”
A spokesperson for Dave & Busters did not immediately return a request for comment.
The state has experienced a surge over the past year of migrant arrivals, many who have left their home countries because of violence, political persecution, or economic hardships. The Massachusetts Housing Stabilization Division reported 1,051 homeless families were living in motels as of Wednesday.
Many children who accompany migrant families often find themselves in unsafe workplaces, working long hours, because parents “don’t know any different,” said La Colaborativa Executive Director Gladys Vega.
“Sometimes parents are worried about paying that coyote. They need to pay whatever they left behind in their country, whoever they borrowed the money to come here. So everyone in that family has to work,” Gladys said.
La Colaborativa runs a summer youth employment program, which employs approximately 230 to 250 young people in Chelsea. Gladys said when young people are being paid, parents are often waiting for their paycheck.
Addressing unsafe or illegal child labor is “not an easy task, because at times, parents are behind it,” Gladys said.
“We need to educate our families. We need to educate our community to make sure that they’re aware that if their kid is working 30 hours and is 14 years old, absolutely not. Education goes first,” she said.
Campbell said her office created an internal child labor working group to identify investigation targets and “novel approaches to overcoming enforcement challenges.” The office, Campbell said, will continue to meet with immigrant worker centers, “which is really important.”
“We’re also, of course, giving this information out through pamphlets and flyers to community groups and partners,” she said.
School officials often pick up on when a young person is working in an unhealthy or unsafe environment, said Ruben Carmona of the Salem Public Schools.
“They are working too late and their homework is not done,” he said. “Their grades are slipping or they are late for school. Poor working conditions out of school and out of the home impact their lives in our school and the home as well.”
