Child labor is highly regulated as to hours, age, and type of work, by both the federal and state governments. Let this book program and audio conference help keep you in compliance … and out of court.
Yesterday’s Daily Advisor reported the onset of the annual teen summer job hunt … thousands of youngsters seeking both employment experience and spending cash by working until (and often part-time after) school reopens.
Teen employment has been good for business. It provides an enthusiastic and reasonably priced workforce for current needs and trains workers for full-time employment later in life. But it’s also one of the most regulated forms of labor.
The regulation comes from both federal and state child labor laws, and especially from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Every state also has its own standards for youth workers. The protections are primarily in these areas:
Age: The teen workforce is generally divided into two groups: younger teens up to the age of 16, and older teens aged 16 or 17. There are few restrictions on the age of 18 and above.
Understand how state child labor laws differ from the federal. Try your state’s edition of BLR’s What to Do About Personnel Problems in [Your State] for 30 days. Click here for info.
All states require that proof of age be supplied to the employer, and almost all issue age certificates to federal Department of Labor standards. Many states also require a work permit, popularly known as “working papers.”
Hours: Younger teens are prohibited from work during school hours. The number of hours allowed for other youngsters depends on age, type of job, and time of the year. State law is often more restrictive than federal. In all cases in which federal vs. state conflict, the stricter law always prevails.
Wages: Teens get the same minimum wage and overtime premium as other workers, with one exception: A subminimum “opportunity” wage, currently set at $4.25 per hour, may be paid to those under the age of 20 for the first 90 calendar days on the job. No other worker may be displaced to bring in a teen on these terms, and discharge of the youngster at 90 days to bring on another “opportunity” worker is illegal under the FLSA.
Types of work: The FLSA dictates what kinds of jobs each age group is prohibited from doing. Most of the restrictions are on industrial work involving machinery, heights, hazardous chemicals, or potentially dangerous situations, but there are some surprises. Those under the age of 16 can’t do door-to-door sales, except for nonprofit organizations.
What is important is that these regulations are about to change.
DOL has posted its intent to modify child labor law to prohibit additional jobs and also to allow a few more for younger categories. The states are likely to be similarly active. How do you keep up with the changes?
Learn Your State’s Child Labor Law
We’d like to offer two possibilities. One is BLR’s classic program, What to Do About Personnel Problem in [Your State], available in a specific edition for your state. The program alphabetically lists some 200 employment law topics (including an extensive section on Child Labor), then reports in plain English, first what federal law says about them, then the law of your state. You can examine your state’s edition at no cost and no risk for up to 30 days.
For understanding both federal and state law on any given topic, there’s nothing better. We recommend it. And we’re sure the 20,000 employers who currently use it would too.
A Special Audio Conference on Federal Child Labor Law Changes
Also worthy of note is a special June 20 audio conference titled Youth Workers: How to Avoid the Legal and Safety Hazards and Reap the Benefits This Summer.
Keep up with changes in the FLSA’s provisions on child labor. Listen in to the special audio conference on June 20. Busy that day? Preorder the CD. Satisfaction assured. Click here.
This 90-minute presentation by noted wage-hour attorney John Thompson, of the Atlanta offices of Fisher & Phillips, will tell you all you likely need to know about the FLSA’s rules on teen workers, the DOL’s proposed changes to those rules and, very important, commonly found practices involving youth hires that can get you sued.
As always, your satisfaction with this audio conference is assured, with the full fee refunded if you’re dissatisfied in any way. One low fee also trains as many of your people as can fit around a conference phone, and a CD can be preordered if you can’t make the June 20 date.
For more information on either program, click on the links on this page.
FLSA and Teen Workers!
The FLSA has a lot to say about young workers. Let BLR brief you on today’s regulations and also the DOL’s recently proposed changes, in a special June 20, 90-minute audio conference on child labor law. Can’t make it? Order the CD! Read more.