CHILD LABOR LAWS

CHILD LABOR LAWS

Federal and state legislation that protects children by restricting the type and hours of work they perform.

The specific purpose of child labor laws is to safeguard children against harm generally associated with child labor, such as exposure to hazardous, unsanitary, or immoral conditions, and overwork. Child labor legislation primarily applies to business enterprises, but in some states nonprofit activities are within the purview of the law.

The federal law controlling child labor is the FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT of 1938 (FLSA) 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et. seq., administratively regulated through 29 C.F.R. Part 570 et seq. The law is enforced by the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage & Hour Division. Federal law provides the basic structural framework for certain prohibitions or restrictions placed on the employment of children. Regulations further delineate minimum requirements to include age restrictions, MINIMUM WAGE provisions, occupational restrictions, hours of work restrictions, and certain prohibited fields or occupations (e.g., hazardous occupations, liquor and lottery sales, or occupations involving moving vehicles or power-driven machinery). Moreover, all states and the federal government require that children have work permits on file with their employers that certify their ages. (29 C.F.R. § 570.9)

Each state also has its own set of child labor
laws that may further prohibit or restrict
employment of children. The laws vary in detail
from state to state, particularly for those states
where seasonal or agricultural employment is
high. However, federal law preempts state law,
and so all state laws must comply with all federal
minimum requirements.

Specific provisions of the particular child
labor law govern the age of majority. Some laws
permit minors to be employed in certain activi-
ties if their parents satisfy stated conditions con-
cerning supervision, control, and approval. The
state has the right to prohibit parents from bind-
ing a minor to an employment contract based
upon the theory that parents cannot diminish
benefits that the law confers to children.
Cursory directions to subordinates are not
sufficient to fulfill the employer’s duty to enforce
child labor regulations. Where such directives
are followed by further violations, sterner meas-
ures controlling the actions of subordinates are
required.

In some states, it is unlawful to employ chil-
dren under a specified age in certain activities
without an employment certificate issued and
filed in accordance with the law. An employer’s
failure to comply with this requirement makes
the employment illegal. Technical errors, such as
the lack of a detailed account of the child’s
duties in the employer’s pledge of employment,
will not have this effect nor invalidate the cer-
tificate.

Regulations also relate to occupations that
are or may be potentially dangerous, extremely hazardous, or harmful to a child’s health or morals, as defined by statute or judicial decision.

In one state a log-loading machine was held to
be within the meaning of a law that barred the
employment of minors in businesses using dangerous
machinery.

The violation of child labor regulations can
subject the perpetrator to criminal prosecution
or render the employment contract illegal. In
appropriate circumstances an INJUNCTION, a
court order that commands or prohibits a certain
act, may be issued against a violator to stop
the illegal conduct.

In 1919, Congress passed the so-called
CHILD LABOR TAX LAW, (40 Stat. 1057) which
imposed a ten percent excise tax on persons or
establishments that employed children under
the age of 14 or children between the ages of 14
and 16 working more than eight hours daily or
more than six days a week. However, in Bailey v.
Drexel Furniture Co., 259 U.S. 20, 42 S. Ct. 449,
66 L. Ed. 2d 817 (1922), the U.S. Supreme Court
invalidated the law as unconstitutional, agreeing
with a lower court that “the provisions of the socalled
taxing act must be naturally and reasonably
adapted to the collection of the tax and not
solely to the achievement of some other purpose
plainly within state power.”

Liability for child labor law violations
depends upon the provisions of the law. As a
general rule, the owner of the business is liable,
whether it is a natural person, a corporation, or
a joint association. An employer is usually not
liable if a minor is assigned to work on the
premises in violation of law by an INDEPENDENT
CONTRACTOR, a person whose work methods
are not controlled by the employer. Some states,
however, will impose liability on the owner
under such circumstances.

The employer’s knowledge that the child is
within the prohibited age is not an element of
the offense. The offense is committed if the
employer does not know but should have known
by the exercise of reasonable diligence that the
child was underage. The employer’s good
faith—his honest belief—is no defense even
though the child misrepresented his age.
A person who hires a child in violation of
law will be liable if the child is injured. The
duration of the employment and the status of
the child as an employee are irrelevant.
The parents will not be held liable merely
because they assented to the hiring of their child
by another. Only the injured child will recover
damages, reparations for injury caused by
another, for third persons are not within the
class of persons that the laws were enacted to
protect.

During the 1990s, a new issue of child labor
moved into the forefront: imported foreign
goods that were produced by foreign “sweatshops”
employing child labor—legally repugnant
in the United States. As more domestic or
multinational corporations opened facilities in
foreign countries—where labor costs were
cheaper—the problem worsened. The FLSA
prohibits sweatshops. The U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
LABOR considers a work place to be a sweatshop
if it violates two or more of the most basic labor
laws, for example, child labor, fire safety, minimum
wage, or overtime hours. Senator Tom
Harkin (D-IA) has been at the forefront of legislative
initiatives, including the Child Labor
Deterrence Act, still pending as of mid-2003.
The act would prohibit the importation of manufactured
or mined goods that are produced by
foreign children under the age of 15.Meanwhile,
President BILL CLINTON signed EXECUTIVE
ORDER 13,126, “Prohibition of Acquisition of
Products Produced by Forced or Indentured
Child Labor,” on June 12, 1999.

FURTHER READINGS
Executive Order No. 13,126. 1999. Federal Register
64:115:32383 (June 16).

Given, Olivia. 1999. “An Indictment of Sweatshops.” Child
Labor and Sweatshops. San Diego: Greenhaven.

Harkin, Tom. 1999. “The United States Should Ban Imports
of Products Made by Children.” Child Labor and Sweatshops.
San Diego: Greenhaven.
Labor Department. Report on the Youth Labor Force. Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS) Publication, 2000.

CROSS-REFERENCES
Labor Law; Parent and Child.