How bad do wage and violations have to be for a federal judge to order you to sell your business? This bad.

A federal district court judge has ordered the owners and operators of 14 Subway restaurants to pay employees nearly $1 million in back wages and damages and further ordered them to sell or shut down their businesses within 60 days.

The wage and hour violations included:
😲 Directing children as young as 14 to use dangerous equipment.

😲 Assigning minors to work hours not permitted by law.

😲 Failing to pay employees their wages by issuing hundreds of bad checks.

😲 Illegally keeping customer tips instead of distributing them to employees.

😲 Coercing employees not to cooperate in the DOL’s investigation.

😲 Threatening children who raised concerns or tried to exercise their legal rights.

"Thanks to some very brave young people who stood up to their employers' exploitation and attempts to intimidate them, the Department of Labor and a federal court are holding these business owners accountable," said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Ruben Rosalez.

Added Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin, "This case sends a clear message to others who — despite ongoing litigation and a preliminary injunction — continue their wage theft that the department will use the tools at its disposal to end their illegal practices."

Or, to put it differently, file this one under f[udge] around and find out.