A state lawsuit filed against the owner of a Lockport McDonald’s is based on a child labor law that was strengthened with steeper civil penalties in 2024.

The law increased the civil penalties for anyone who permits a minor to work in violation of the law from a maximum of $5,000 per violation to up to $10,000 per day, during which any violation continues, according to the lawsuit from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s Office.

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in Cook County against Nicholas Kory and his company, Lockor, which operates the McDonald’s at 1039 E. 9th St. in Lockport.

In 2024, Gov. JB Pritzker had signed into law a Senate bill that updates child labor regulations by “repealing the existing statute and replacing it with a modern framework,” according to the governor’s office.

“While neighboring states weaken their child labor laws, in Illinois we’re modernizing our regulatory framework to further protect minors from unscrupulous employers,” Pritzker said in a 2024 statement.

The states that have “rolled back child labor protections” include Indiana, Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and West Virginia, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

The lawsuit from Raoul’s office alleged as of Thursday, Lockor has not paid $2.1 million in civil penalties following a 2023 investigation by the Illinois Department of Labor.

As of Friday, McDonald’s media relations department did not provide a comment on the state lawsuit. An attempt to reach Kory by phone was unsuccessful. Steven Baerson, whom state records list as the registered agent for Lockor, did not respond to a message.

The lawsuit from Raoul’s office claims Kory and Locker had at least 26 minors working in violation of the child labor law nearly every day the restaurant was open.

“On many occasions, defendants permitted minors under the age of 16 to work very late at night, including numerous instances where minors as young as 14 years old worked past 11 p.m. on school nights. Another minor frequently worked past midnight and even as late as 1:30 a.m.,” according to the attorney general’s lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged an investigation by the state labor department found at least 568 instances where Kory and Lockor violated state law during the investigation period of Jan. 1, 2023 to July 8, 2023.

The state lawsuit is at least the second known instance in Will County of a business accused of child labor violations in recent years.

In 2023, the company that owned the former Syl’s restaurant in Rockdale was fined more than $18,000 for violating child labor laws and denying overtime pay, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Premier Events & Banquets, the owner of Syl’s, was accused of unlawfully employing 25 minor-aged workers after 7 p.m. on school nights and 9 p.m. on weekends, according to federal officials.

Rise in child labor violations

Between 2019 and 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor saw a 31% increase in the number of children employed in violation of federal child labor laws.

The enforcement data reflects the department’s wage and hour division’s work in “uncovering and investigating more child labor cases and is a result of our focus on this critical issue,” federal officials said.

Reports from the Illinois Department of Labor show it has collected a rising amount of penalties for child labor violations in recent years.

In Fiscal Year 2025, the department collected $4.5 million in penalties.

An investigation of allegations of children working in unsafe conditions at Hearthside Food Solutions, which has several locations throughout the suburbs and northwest Indiana, led to a $4.5 settlement agreement, according to the department of labor.

The money collected from penalties are deposited into the fund to support future enforcement activities against child labor violations, according to the department of labor.