AN owner and operator of Donut King at stores at Rosebud and Berwick has been fined $10,000 for breaching child employment laws.
Sam Minto, the sole director Minto Nominees Pty Ltd, the company of which Donut King trades under, pleaded guilty to 12 charges of breaking Victoria’s child employment laws at the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on 21 March.
He plead guilty to employing three children under the age of 15 without a licence on 28 occasions; failing to ensure the children are supervised by someone with a Working with Children Clearance; and failing to provide a rest break of at least 30 minutes after every 3 hours of work. Furthermore, Minto pleaded guilty to employing children for longer than three hours per day during a school term and employing children for longer than 6 hours per day during school holidays.
The offences took place between 1 January and 6 July 2024. The maximum penalty for each offence is $47,422.
The children’s duties at Donut King included taking orders, handling sales transactions, making coffee, operating the donut cooking machinery and making toasted sandwiches. Child employment laws stipulate that during a school term, children can be employed for a maximum of three hours a day and 12 hours per week. And during school holidays, the laws stipulate that children can be employed up to six hours a day and 30 hours a week.
In sentencing, Deputy Chief Magistrate Tim Bourke noted that children are among the most vulnerable members of society and that parents trust employers to have protective measures in place when their children enter the workforce. Deputy Chief Magistrate Bourke also said the laws were in place to protect children from exploitation and ensured they were safe in the workplace. He did not record a conviction, taking into account the early guilty plea and the lack of prior offending.
The Wage Inspectorate Victoria, the state’s child employment regulator, began investigating Minto Nominees Pty Ltd after receiving a tip-off that their stores may have been employing kids under 15. The Inspectorate’s commissioner Robert Hortle said parents put their trust into businesses to keep their children protected.
“Donut King is the type of business where kids get their first job. We’re looking to franchisors, particularly large, well-resourced corporations to show leadership in this space and ensure their franchisees comply with child employment laws,” Hortle said. “Kids don’t have the same mental or physical stamina as adults, so they can’t work the same hours and need to have regular rest breaks. It’s concerning to see a workplace fail to take the welfare of kids into account.”
First published in the Mornington News – 25 March 2025
