Popular fast food chain KFC has been fined $30,000 for illegally employing children at three of its Perth outlets.
Kentucky Fried Chicken Pty Ltd faced the Industrial Magistrates Court yesterday charged with 16 counts of employing children under 15 at its Ellenbrook, Forrestfield and Rockingham stores.
The charges relate to the teenagers working shifts that ended after 10pm, in breach of the Children and Community Service Act.
Under the act, children aged between 13 and 15 are not permitted to work before 6am or after 10pm.
The Department of Labour Relations says of the 153 unlawful shifts, roughly a quarter finished after midnight and 21 preceded ordinary school days.
Kentucky Fried Chicken Pty Ltd operates four KFC outlets in Western Australia.
The remaining outlets are owned and operated by a separate and unrelated company that is not involved in the matter.
In a statement, KFC Australia said it deeply regretted the lapses in its systems that allowed the rostering breaches to occur.
The company said it would change its rostering software and had organised further training to ensure such incidents did not happen again.
Meredith Hammat from Unions WA said the case should serve as a warning for the industry.
"This is an extraordinary set of circ*mstances and it's outrageous to think that young people would be working shifts ending so late," she said.
"We think that's just dangerous. We think it's exploitation and it's just a dreadful introduction to the workplace for young people."
She said the fine should have been bigger.
"We would think those fines, for a company the size of KFC, are really not a significant financial penalty for what is a significant exploitation of young people," she said.
"One-hundred-and-three separate occasions that young people worked too late, and $30,000 for a company like KFC is really a drop in the ocean."
Posted, updated
