DWD: Wisconsin Burger King franchisee broke thousands of child labor laws
DWD: Wisconsin Burger King franchisee broke thousands of child labor laws
An Illinois-based Burger King franchise faces more than a thousand child labor law violations in Wisconsin.
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin is cracking down on an employer it says had the largest number of child labor violations in modern state history.
The State of Wisconsin says one such Burger King on North 76th broke state child labor laws. But, it wasn't alone.
1,000+ infractions
What we know:
It's just one of more than 1,600 infractions across the state.
Wisconsin says one company broke child labor laws with 600 kids.
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What they're saying:
"It was still shocking even to our investigators to see that out of 105 locations around the state, violations were found at 103 locations, involving over 600 minor workers," said Amy Pechacek, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Secretary.
The target: Cave Enterprises. It owns dozens of Burger Kings around Milwaukee and about a hundred across the state.
Cave Enterprises
What they're saying:
"This is the largest case that we have seen of youth working violations in modern history. We have quite honestly not seen anything to the depth and breadth of what this audit uncovered," added Pechacek.
DWD audit
By the numbers:
The Department of Workforce Development says that the audit started after 33 complaints. It reviewed records from 2023 through January 25, 2025.
For all of Cave's 100+ BK locations in Wisconsin, DWD says the Burger King on South 27th Street had 16 minors working without a permit and 32 violations for missing meals or breaks.
The Milwaukee BK on Lisbon is now closed. The state says 11 kids there worked without a permit, and it also had 22 meal/break violations.
The state also said it found violations in Menonomee Falls, Oak Creek, Oconomowoc, Waukesha, West Bend, West Allis, Kenosha, Beaver Dam, and Racine.
What they're saying:
"Our youth workers are some of our most vulnerable workers in the State of Wisconsin, and we have to protect them from these violations,"said Pechacek. "Youth work protections exist for a reason. We want our kids in Wisconsin to first and foremost be kids. Right? Kids go to school. They have obligations in terms of homework and after-school extracurricular activities.
In total, the state says it found 84% (593 of its employees ages 14 and 15) began work without a child labor permit and 45% or 627 minors worked at least one shift of six or more hours without the required, documented break.
It also says the company failed to pay 67 minors for overtime and had hundreds of hours of work violations.
The state tells Cave it has 20 days to pay backpay, penalty wages, and penalties.
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That’s $237,000 for the child workers and a penalty to the state of $828,000.
FOX6 called and emailed Cave Enterprises to get their side of the story. No one got back.
The company is based in Illinois. On their website they say they have burger kings in eight states.
If they don't pay the more than $1 million in backpay and penalties, DWD says it will bring the franchisee to court.
The Source: This story was produced by FOX6 with information from the