Chapter VIII
Child Labor Laws
We are all familiar with the horror stories of child labor in the 19th century - young children working 14 hours a day, six days a week, risking life and limb in mines and mills. And while today's young workers would appear to have little in common with their counterparts of the past century, nearly three-quarters of today's high school students hold a part-time or full-time job. In addition, many educators complain that too many students are sacrificing their schoolwork in the interest of pursuing after-school employment. Finally, despite the lessons of history, child labor violations have increased dramatically.
Labor laws were created to prevent discrimination, ensure a safe work environment, provide economic security against illness or injury on or off the job, and protect workers from being underpaid. Child labor laws were created to extend these same protections to young workers, as well as protect their educational opportunities.
What laws relate to the employment of youth?
Both the Fair Labor Standards Act and Rhode Island law address many of the specific terms of child labor. These laws are intended to protect the educational opportunities of minors and prohibit their employment in jobs and under conditions deemed detrimental to their well-being. In those areas where the laws overlap, the stricter requirements are adhered to.
Neither the federal law nor Rhode Island law places any restrictions on work or work hours for youths 18 years or older other than those generally applicable to all workers.
What types of employment are permitted for youths less than 14 years of age?
Rhode Island law prohibits the employment of youths less than 14 years of age in any business or industrial establishment. Children younger than 14 years of age can work in a private home or on a farm or for their parents or their parents' business.
What types of employment are prohibited for youths 14 and 15 years of age?
Youths 14 and 15 years of age are prohibited from certain occupations in two ways. First, both Rhode Island law and the Secretary of Labor (who is charged under the FSLA to identify hazardous jobs) identify specific occupations prohibited to youths 14 and 15 years of age. Second, this same age group is prohibited from certain work for which the Secretary of Labor has deemed 18 years as the minimum age.
Both the FSLA and Rhode Island laws prohibit youths under age 16 from working in factories, mechanical, manufacturing or processing establishments.
The Rhode Island law (R.I.G.L. §28-3-9) contains an extensive list of prohibited activities, but examples include work that involves:
• dangerous machinery
• acids
• paints or dry colors, or red or white lead
• explosive materials
• all occupations in warehouses, except office and clerical work
• occupations in any billiard or pool room
• any occupation involving work in a tunnel
dispensing gas
Minors ages 14 and 15 are expressly limited by the regulation issued by the Secretary of Labor which prohibits:
• manufacturing, mining, or processing occupations
• occupations requiring the performance of any duties in a workroom or workplace where goods are manufactured, mined, or otherwise processed
• occupations involving the operation or tending of hoisting apparatus or of any power-driven machinery other than office machines
• public messenger service
• occupations declared to be particularly hazardous or detrimental to health or well-being by the Secretary of Labor
• occupations (except office or sales work) in connection with transportation of persons or property by rail, highway, air, water, pipeline, or other means; warehousing and storage; communications and public utilities, and construction (including demolition and repair)
• office and sales work if such work is performed on trains or any other media of transportation or at the actual site of construction operations
Finally, as noted above, a further limitation is imposed by seventeen orders issued by the Secretary of Labor that prohibit certain employment to all youths under the age of 18. The orders cover the following types of work:
• manufacturing and storing explosives
• coal mining
• logging and sawmilling
• power-driven woodworking machines
• exposure to radioactive substances
• power-driven hoisting apparatus
• power driven metal-forming, punching, and sheering machines
• mining, other than coal mining
• slaughtering, or meat packing, processing, or rendering, including the operation of a power-driven meat slicer
• power-driven bakery machines
• power-driven paper-products machines
• manufacturing brick, tile, and related products
• power-driven circular saws, band saws, and guillotine sheers
• wrecking demolition, and shipbreaking operations
• roofing operations
• excavation operations
• motor vehicle driving and outside helper unless otherwise permitted by the Drive for Teen Employment Act (29 U.S.C §213(c)).
The Drive for Teen Employment Act , an amendment to the child labor provisions of the FLSA , specifies prohibited activities and limits for youthful employees. For example, the Act prohibits sixteen-year-old workers from driving on public roads while working and r estricts seventeen-year-olds to driving cars and light trucks as part of their employment to daylight hours only. The Act also contains restrictions of the types of property which youthful employees can transport, the distance youthful employees can travel, the number of trips which can be taken in any one day, and the number of passengers which a youthful employee can transport.
What types of employment are permitted for young people 14 and 15 years of age?
The law permits young people 14 and 15 years of age part-time and school vacation employment in business, food service, and other mercantile establishments provided they have obtained a work permit from the local school department.
Examples of permissible work include:
• office and clerical work (unless in a prohibited location)
• work as a cashier
• price marking and tagging by hand or by machine, assembling orders, packing and shelving
• bagging and carrying out customers' orders
• errand and delivery work by foot, bicycle and public transport
• inside cleanup work
• grounds maintenance (excluding the use of power-driven mowers or cutters)
• kitchen work and food preparation at soda fountains, lunch counters, snack bars, or cafeteria serving counters
• gas station work, including pumping gas (but not including work involving the use of pits, racks, or lifting apparatus, or involving the inflation of any tire mounted on a rim equipped with a removable retaining ring)
• certain grocery store work (when performed in areas physically separate from areas where meat is prepared for sale, and outside freezers and meat coolers)
What are the hour limits on employment for young people 14 and 15 years of age?
The laws relating to the employment of young people 14 and 15 years of age prohibit employment in excess of:
• 3 hours a day on a school day
• 8 hours a day on a nonschool day
• 18 hours per week when school is in session
• 40 hour per week during school vacations
Furthermore, such work cannot commence before 7 a.m. and must end by 7 p.m. (except during school vacations when work must end by 9 p.m.).
What are the limits on employment for young people 16 and 17 years of age?
The limitations are those indicated above in which the Secretary of Labor has deemed 18 years as the minimum age and those limitations outlined in the Drive for Teen Employment Act.
What are the hour limits on employment for young people 16 and 17 years of age?
The FLSA places no limit on the number of hours worked for young people 16 and 17 years of age.
Under Rhode Island law workers 16 and 17 years of age who are enrolled in school are prohibited from working:
• between the hours of 11:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. when the next day is a school day, and,
• after 1:30 a.m. if school is not scheduled for the following day.
The workweek while school is in session is also limited to:
• no more than 48 hours; and,
• no more than 9 hours per day, except when the 48 hours are worked in five days, in which case the work day cannot exceed 9 and 3/5 th hours.
During school vacations there is no limit on the total hours worked in a given week or on a particular workday.
Penalties for violations of hour limitations range. The law provides that every person who willfully employs any person in violation of the provisions of §§ 28-3-11 - 28-3-14, and every parent or guardian who permits any child to be so employed, shall be fined not exceeding $20 for each offense. Employers who violate the law governing maximum continuous hours without a meal shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $100.
The law also provides (except as otherwise indicated) any person or corporation who: (1) employs a child under sixteen (16) years of age without the permit required by the law, (2) makes a false statement in regard to any part required by the certificate, (3) violates any of the provisions of R.I.G.L. §§ 28-3-1 - 28-3-20, or permits any child to be employed in violation of their provisions may be fined up to $500 upon conviction. If a child employed in violation of the provisions of R.I.G.L. §§ 28-3-1 - 28-3-30 is injured or killed in the course of the employment, the fine may be increased to an amount not exceeding $5,000.
Does the law permit a wage less than the minimum for young people?
While the Rhode Island minimum wage is currently $6.75, some workers may be paid less. (See page 57) Full-time students under 19 years of age working in nonprofit religious, educational, library, or community service organizations may be paid $6.08 (90 percent of the applicable minimum wage). The law also permits an hourly rate of not less than $5.06 (75 percent of the minimum wage ) for workers ages 14 and 15 years working 24 hours per week or less.
Are young workers eligible for unemployment benefits?
Perhaps. Full-time students cannot collect unemployment compensation. However, if a young worker is laid off or fired without just cause when school is not in session, that worker may be able to collect unemployment benefits, provided he or she has earned enough money to be eligible.
How can young workers enforce their rights and how can employers protect teenage workers?
Most government agencies have very few inspectors on staff to police thousands of workplaces. The only way policing agencies are likely to hear about labor law violations is if they are contacted. In some cases, a worker can call anonymously or a parent or union representative can file a complaint on the worker's behalf. In nearly all cases, workers cannot be fired for filing a complaint with a government agency.
Employers can do their part by making sure that all employees adhere to the law. They can also institute some protective measures. The Department of Labor lists several examples of successful practices used by employers across the country to protect younger workers. They include:
• issuing different colored smocks to convenience store employees under age 18. This way supervisors know who isn't allowed to operate the electric meat slicer;
• placing "warning stickers" on equipment that teenagers may not legally operate or clean;
• issuing a laminated, pocket-sized "Minor Policy Card" on the first day of work explaining the company's policy and requirements for complying with Child Labor Laws; and,
• developing and instituting a computer tracking system to ensure that no young worker is scheduled for too many hours during the school week.
