Page 6 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022 Winter Wonderland: From Blizzard Clean-up to Ice Storm Prep James McKinnon shoveled the remnants of Saturday’s blizzard on Thursday. Revere Firefi ghters Hernando Ortega-Bueno, at left, and Michael Mullen emphasized the importance of shoveling out hydrants, in case of fi re, since trucks carry a limited water supply. Family Dollar fined $1.5M for thousands of meal break violations at Massachusetts locations A ttorney General Maura Healey recently announced that Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. d/b/a Family Dollar has been cited $1.5 million in penalties for more than 3,900 violations of the state’s meal break law. Family Dollar was issued two citations by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Offi ce for failing to provide employees who worked for more than six hours in one day at least 30 minutes for a meal break, aff ecting 620 employees across 100 locations throughout Massachusetts – the majority of which are in low-income neighborhoods. Family Dollar, a Virginiabased company, employs more than 900 people at its Massachusetts stores and operates more than 15,000 stores across the country. Revere Firefi ghters Hernando Ortega-Bueno, at left, and Michael Mullen shoveled out the front of a hydrant on Beach Street on Thursday. (Advocate photos by Tara Vocino) “Workers give us their time, energy, and eff orts to keep businesses running and our economy afl oat,” said Healey. “These citations should send a message to all companies that they need to do right by their employees and provide meal breaks consistent with the law.” The Attorney General’s Offi ce’s Fair Labor Division began investigating Family Dollar after receiving multiple complaints that employees were not given proper meal breaks because of persistent staffi ng shortages. Investigators were able to determine that from 2018 to 2019 the company routinely cut the necessary payroll hours, leaving stores understaff ed. This resulted in hundreds of employees being unable to leave their stores or take meal breaks. Employees were routinely required to remain on store premFINED | SEE Page 16
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