Iron River pizza restaurant agrees to pay $99K in penalties for employing children to operate hot oven, meat grinder; work beyond allowed hours

IRON RIVER, WI – Diners at an Iron River pizza restaurant will soon see teenage workers wearing different colored shirts or name tags; not as part of a marketing promotion but to help managers quickly remember the ages of young employees to avoid assigning them to dangerous duties or employing them to work longer or later than federal child labor laws permit.

The change in attire is included as part of consent findings the parties executed and were entered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Administrative Law Judges on Nov.4, 2024, to resolve alleged child labor violations by Ironbluebear Inc., operator of Pizza Parlor, cited by investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division. The employers agreed to the entry of the consent findings to resolve the investigation. 

Investigators found Pizza Parlor and owner Michelle Drougas illegally employed 11 children. Six children were employed to operate and clean a meat grinder and seven children drove motor vehicles on public roadways to deliver orders. These activities are prohibited by hazardous occupations orders under the Fair Labor Standards Act. One child younger than 16 was employed to use an oven heated to between 500 and 900 degrees Fahrenheit to help prepare and cook pizza. Fourteen- and 15- year-olds may be employed in food preparation and limited cooking tasks, but they may not perform any baking activities. The employers also assigned children to work in violation of federal limits on hours. 

The consent findings require Ironbluebear and Drougas to pay $99,882 in civil money penalties in regular installments for violating child labor standards. The employers have made an initial payment of $33,294 and will pay the balance in installments through Sept. 30, 2025.

The employers also agreed to do the following:

• Apply stickers provided in the Wage and Hour Division’s Youth Employment Compliance Assistance Toolkit to hazardous equipment to alert employees under 18 years of age not to operate the equipment.
• Require all young workers to wear shirts and/or name tags color-coded to signify their ages, including one color for 14- and 15-year-old children, another for 16- and 17-year-old teens and a third color for workers 18 and older.
• Post and provide child labor and anti-retaliation fact sheets to each employee.

“Learning new skills in the workforce is an important part of growing up – but we must protect children and ensure their first jobs are safe and do not interfere with their education or well-being,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Kristin Tout in Minneapolis, whose office is responsible for enforcing the law in Wisconsin. “Ironbluebear and its owner, Michelle Drougas, have committed to improving their employment practices to make certain the young people they employ are safe and work only when and how long the law allows.” 

“This case sends a clear message: the Department of Labor will use all necessary resources to protect children from dangerous employment,” added Regional Solicitor Christine Z. Heri in Chicago. “Every company employing minors has a responsibility to make sure children are not being employed illegally and that their safety and well-being are never jeopardized.”

Federal regulations state that children ages 14 and 15 may not work later than 7 p.m. between the day after Labor Day and May 31 and 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day. Their work hours may not exceed eight on a non-school day or 40 during a week when school is not in session. They may work no more than three hours on a school day and no more than 18 hours during a week when school is in session.

Trial attorney Rachel Murphy litigated this case on behalf of the department’s Office of the Solicitor.

The division’s restaurant compliance toolkit explains wage and child labor laws for employers and workers. 

The department’s YouthRules! initiative promotes positive and safe work experiences for teens by providing information about protections for young workers to youth, parents, employers and educators. Through this initiative, the department and its partners promote developmental work experiences that help prepare young workers to enter the workforce. The Wage and Hour Division has also published Seven Child Labor Best Practices for Employers to help employers comply with the law.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from. 

 Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – available in English and Spanish –to ensure hours and pay are accurate.