The U.S. Department of Labor has published a proposal to update the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations governing the employment of teenage workers, calling the changes the most ambitious revisions to child labor rules in 30 years.
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Download NowThe department says the changes will improve protections for the youngest segment of the nation's workforce.
"The proposal contains the most ambitious and far-reaching revisions to the child labor regulations in the last 30 years," says Paul DeCamp, administrator of the department's Wage and Hour Division. "It will safeguard the health and education of millions of working teens while at the same time allowing them to enjoy the benefits of a phased introduction to the workplace."
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 14- and 15-year-olds may work only in occupations explicitly authorized by the Secretary of Labor by regulation and only under conditions that do not interfere with their schooling or health and well-being. Sixteen and 17-year-olds, on the other hand, may work in any occupations except those that the secretary has found to be "particularly hazardous" or "detrimental to their health or well-being."
The proposal would expand the list of "particularly hazardous" activities to include working at poultry slaughtering plants, riding as passengers on forklifts, fighting forest fires, and loading and operating non-paper products balers and compacters.
The department's proposal would expand employment opportunities for 14- and 15-year-olds in industries like advertising, banking, and information technology. The proposal would also prohibit 14- and 15-year-olds from employment in youth peddling activities, sometimes known as door-to-door sales.
In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the department is requesting comments on proposed changes to seven non-agricultural hazardous occupation orders and on suggested revisions to the rules for 14- and 15-year-olds. In an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the department seeks information to update certain hazardous occupation orders for which it says there was insufficient information to propose new rules.
This proposal is the second in a series of updates to the child labor regulations and stems from a 2002 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health review of the child labor hazardous occupation orders. In December 2004, the department issued final regulations that, among other modifications, expanded protections for youth working in roofing and restaurant cooking.
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