The Department of Labor revealed Monday that 13 McDonald's locations in the Pittsburgh area broke child labor laws with employees ages 14 and 15.

The McDonald's Franchisee Santonastasso Enterprises LLC paid a $57,000 penalty to resolve the violations.

"Permitting young workers to work excessive hours can jeopardize their safety, well-being and education," John DuMont, the DOL's wage and hour district director in Pittsburgh, said in a release.

"Employers who hire young workers must understand and comply with federal child labor laws or face costly consequences," DuMont said.

The laws the locations broke included allowing them to work "more than 3 hours per day and after 7 p.m. on school days when the law forbids work beyond that time, later than 9 p.m. on days between June 1 and Labor Day, when they may legally work until 9 p.m., and more than eight hours on a non-school day, and more than 18 hours a week during a regular school week."

Investigators also discovered an employee under the age of 16 at one location was allowed to operate a deep fryer. Employees under the age of 16 can only operate deep fryers that are equipped with a device to automatically lower and raise the baskets.

One of the locations had up to 18 workers that were breaking labor laws. Other locations varied between 3-11 employees in violation. There were 101 employees that were affected altogether at the 13 locations, according to the release.

McDonald's has seen other issues in past involving sexual harassment as well. In October 2021, hundreds of McDonald's workers in 12 cities walked out of restaurants protesting a lack of attention towards sexual harassment claims against employees.

"We take our role as a local employer very seriously and we regret any scheduling issues that may have occurred at our restaurants. Our biggest priority is always the safety and well-being of our employees and we have since instituted a series of new and enhanced processes and procedures to ensure employees are scheduled appropriately." John and Kathleen Santonastasso, McDonald's Owner/Operators said in a statement to International Business Times.

"While franchisees make local decisions for their businesses, including around labor and employment practices, they must comply with all state and federal laws, and we expect them to uphold our values in everything they do. McDonald's and our franchisees do not take lightly the outsized impact we can deliver – and therefore the profound obligation we carry – when someone works at a McDonald's, particularly as their first job," McDonald's USA added.