Walmart Settles $7.8 Million Child Labor Case in Pennsylvania

By Olivia Hart

The Shapiro Administration announced a $7.8 million settlement with Walmart over Child Labor Act violations, calling it the largest child labor enforcement action in Pennsylvania history.

How did workers’ compensation claims lead to a state investigation?

Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Labor Law Compliance (BLLC) began investigating Walmart in February 2025, according to the Shapiro Administration’s announcement. It acted after the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation referred cases involving minors injured while working at Walmart stores.

Those referrals supplied the trigger, not the audit findings. State investigators then conducted 10 audits at eight Walmart locations across Pennsylvania, finding an average of 65 Child Labor Act violations per audit.

Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Nancy A. Walker said: “Pennsylvania’s child labor laws exist to protect our kids, and employers have a responsibility to follow them.” She added: “When our investigators identified a pattern of violations at Walmart stores, we knew we needed to look beyond those individual locations.”

State officials described the findings as systemic, citing excessive hours and missing required breaks. Injury referrals became a statewide test of labor-law controls.

What did investigators say Walmart violated?

State investigators identified four categories of violations:

• Failing to obtain required work permits for minor employees;
• Failing to notify school districts when minor employees were hired or terminated;
• Failing to provide minor employees with breaks required by law; and
• Allowing minors to work more hours than permitted under Pennsylvania law.

The findings covered both hiring paperwork and working conditions. Pennsylvania did not disclose the number of minors affected, the hours worked or the names of the eight stores.

Those omissions limit a store-by-store comparison. The stated failures involved permits, school notices, breaks and hours.

How did the investigation expand beyond eight stores?

After identifying a pattern at the stores inspected, BLLC expanded enforcement to Walmart locations statewide. Governor Josh Shapiro said: “Every employer in Pennsylvania should be on notice: we will not tolerate you taking advantage of our youngest workers.”

That expansion took the response from eight audited stores to a statewide network. The announcement did not say whether other Walmart locations had been audited.

Since Shapiro took office in January 2023, L&I has investigated more than 2,200 child labor cases across Pennsylvania and found violations by hundreds of employers, according to the announcement. The case sits within a broader enforcement effort rather than an isolated dispute over one store.

What does the $7.8 million settlement require?

Under the statewide settlement, Walmart will pay $7.68 million in administrative penalties. The administration’s $7.8 million figure also includes $142,785 in fines Walmart had already paid, so the headline amount is not entirely a new payment.

The agreement also includes compliance measures intended to protect young workers and prevent future violations. Pennsylvania did not describe those measures or their duration.

The announcement disclosed no financial consequence for a future breach. The financial terms are clear; the operational commitments are not.

What did Walmart say?

A Walmart spokesperson emailed a statement: “We’re pleased to have resolved this matter. We have processes in place to support compliance with applicable laws, including the paperwork requirements, and we regularly review and improve them.” The company did not say whether it accepts the audit findings.

Its statement points to paperwork processes and regular reviews. It does not address the violations found at the audited stores or describe the settlement’s compliance measures.

That leaves enforcement as the check on future compliance. The unresolved issue is whether those controls work across a statewide store network.

The $7.8 million settlement resolves the financial terms. Its prevention goals still face a practical test across Walmart’s Pennsylvania network, and Pennsylvania has disclosed no follow-up audit timetable.