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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202-219-8743.
The U.S. Department of Labor is conducting a national drive
to prevent child labor abuse during the summer months when more than three
million youth get jobs.
The department's initiative will focus particularly on
construction and agriculture, which have a higher than average number of
injuries and fatalities to minors, often while the youths are working in
violation of child labor laws.
"While we want to encourage American youths to gain
valuable educational and work experience, we must also protect them from harm,"
said Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich. "With this education and outreach
initiative, we hope to make parents, young people and employers aware of the
current laws and promote legal, safe and healthy child labor."
The nationwide education and outreach program will include
mailings to youth employment coordinators, chambers of commerce, industry
associations in agriculture and construction such as farm bureaus and builder
associations, school boards and school superintendents.
In addition, the department's regional Wage and Hour
Division staff will speak to civic groups, to parent-teacher associations, at
school career days and employer groups.
The department will also concentrate on enforcing child
labor laws in agriculture and construction.
"We take very seriously our responsibility to enforce the
child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)," said Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards Bernard Anderson. "Children are our
most precious resource, and we will do our utmost to see they are protected in
the workplace."
Labor Department investigators in fiscal year 1994 found
8,444 minors employed in violation of the child labor provisions of the FLSA.
The department assessed $6.5 million in civil money penalties for violations
involving 6,824 of those minors in 1,381 establishments.
Higher civil penalties were announced last year for
violations that resulted in serious injuries and deaths to young workers. The
penalties were increased from a maximum fine of $10,000 for each teen seriously
injured or killed to $10,000 for each violation leading to a serious injury or
death.
More than 2,500 minors aged 14 to 17 working in
agricultural industries suffered occupational injuries in 1992 that were
serious enough to warrant emergency room treatment, the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimated. NIOSH also reported that
during the 1980s, 110 16- and 17-year-olds were killed while working in
agriculture. There were more occupational adolescent deaths in agriculture than
any other occupation.
In the construction industry, the department's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that the greatest percentage of
accidents occur during the first months on the job, prime time for summer jobs,
which last only a few months. Falls from elevations, the major cause of
construction fatalities, ranked third as a cause of injuries overall.
Child labor provisions, implemented to protect the safety
of minors in the workplace and to ensure that working does not interfere with
minors' education, are a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938.
The FLSA, which covers more than 113 million workers, also requires that most
workers be paid the minimum wage, currently $4.25 an hour, generally requires
overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in any workweek, and requires employers
to keep accurate time and payroll records. The FLSA is enforced by the Wage and
Hour Division of the Employment Standards Administration, U.S. Labor
Department.
For further information on child labor provisions, contact
the local office of the Wage and Hour Division, listed in the government pages
of the phone book under U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards
Administration, Wage and Hour Division.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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