Stephen R. Sutter and Howard R. Rosenberg
Federal and state laws regulate the employment of minors. Last yearthe California legislature enacted the Omnibus Child Labor Reform Act (AB1900), more closely aligning the state code with federal, effective January1995. The Labor Commissioner has declared child labor law enforcement ahigh priority. A total of 213 child labor citations were issued in Californialast year under under state law, according to the Department of IndustrialRelations, and 667 under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Child labor laws are intended to ensure that employment of persons youngerthan 18 is compatible with their age, schooling, and safety. They covercitizens and noncitizens alike who have not graduated from high school orearned equivalency certificates. These laws restrict the types of workthat minors may perform and the hours that minors may be employed.
It is generally illegal to employ minors without a valid work permitissued by the local school district, for more hours than permitted, or indangerous jobs. A significant exception applies to minors employed by theirparents in any agricultural task that is performed (a) when school is notin session or outside school hours, and (b) exclusively on or in connectionwith premises owned, operated, or controlled by the parent.
Among provisions of AB 1900 relevant to agricultural employment are closerconformance to federal limits on hours, substantial incorporation of thefederal list of hazardous occupations, and an increase in state penaltiesfor violation of child labor law.
Permission to Employ a Minor
Before starting work in California, a minor has to obtain an employer-specificwork permit, renewable annually. Farm operators are prohibited from hiringminors, except their own children, without a permit to employ, and theyare required to keep on file a copy of that document for each minor currentlyon the payroll.
A work permit shows name of minor, social security number, birth date,address, phone number, current school attended, allowable work hours perday and per week during the school term, and expiration date. The permitis issued by the school district in which the minor resides or is enrolled,after the district receives a parent or legal guardian's written request,evidence of the minor's age, and a prospective employer's statement of intentto hire. It is revokable if the work is harming the child's health or schooling. Children younger than 12 are not eligible for work permits.
Children working for their parents on a farm owned or controlled by theirparents may work at any time outside of school hours, in any job, and withouta permit. If, however, a parent for which a child works is deemed to bean employee of another entity, then the minor is likewise an employee ofthat entity and subject to normal child labor limits.
Every owner or operator of a farm in California who employs any parentor guardian with minor children in immediate custody is required to posta notice, in English and Spanish, stating that minors are not allowed towork on the premises unless legally permitted to do so by duly constitutedauthorities.
Limits on Hours
Agricultural exceptions to the restriction of hours for minors in nonagriculturalwork have been narrowed. The maximum number of hours a child is permittedto work depends on his or her age.
During the school year, minors aged 16 to 17 generally are limited to4 hours of work on a school day, 8 hours on a nonschool day, from 5 a.m.to 10 p.m. (or until 12:30 a.m. on a nonschool day). When school is out,the limits are 8 hours per day and 48 per week. The Labor Commissionermay grant an exception allowing up to 10 hours of work in an agriculturalpacking shed on nonschool days in the peak harvest season, if it preventsundue hardship for the employer and does not materially affect the safetyor welfare of the minor.
Minors 14 to 15 years of age may work up to 3 hours on a school day,8 hours on a nonschool day, and 18 hours in a week, between 7 a.m. and 7p.m. when school is in session, until 9 p.m. from June 1st through LaborDay, and as many as 40 hours per week when school is out.
Minors aged 12 to 13 may work only on nonschool days, up to 8 hours perday, and 40 hours per week. It is unlawful to employ minors under age 12.
Hazardous Work
Even during permitted hours, some jobs are out of bounds for minors. California prohibitions now include by reference all the occupations declaredin federal regulations as hazardous for minors or detrimental to their healthor well-being. The state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DSLE,Department of Industrial Relations) may, after a hearing, add occupationsto those on the federal list, which itself is subject to revision from timeto time.
The federal rules generally ban employment of minors in work with dangerousmachinery, with hazardous substances, or in dangerous work settings. Theyspecifically prohibit the following for children under age 16:
- Operating tractors over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting/disconnecting implements to/from such tractors.
- Operating or assisting to operate most heavy equipment (e.g., corn picker, combine, hay mower or baler, auger conveyor, fork lift, power saw).
- Working in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by specified male animals used for breeding or female animals with newborn offspring.
- Felling, bucking, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with butt diameter of more than 6 inches.
- Working on a ladder or scaffold higher than 20 feet.
- Driving a vehicle transporting passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper.
- Working inside a manure pit or certain commodity storage units under specified conditions.
- Handling pesticides of toxicity category 1 or 2.
- Handling dynamite or other blasting agents.
- Transporting or handling anhydrous ammonia.
California rules also prohibit minors under age 16 from servicing machinery,working in close proximity to moving machinery, or performing tasks thatcause dust in hazardous quantities. State law now bars minors under 12not only from working in but also from accompanying parents (guardians)employed in a job that has been declared hazardous for minors under 16 orin an agricultural zone of danger - on or about moving equipment, aroundunprotected chemicals, and around unprotected water hazards.
Enforcement and Penalties
Child labor restrictions apply to all employers hiring minors, exceptfor parents or legal guardians whose children work for them or under theircontrol on property they own or operate. Liability for violations may extendto the owner of a farm on which a minor works under the employ of a thirdparty, if the owner benefits from the minor's work. Even if not the directemployer of a minor, a property owner can be held jointly responsible fora violation that he or she knows about and permits.
The Labor Commissioner (who heads the DLSE) enforces state laws protectingminors. School district attendance officers are authorized to also investigateand report to the Labor Commissioner on violations of work permit requirements. The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsiblefor enforcing federal child labor provisions. As a practical matter, stateand federal officials now cooperate in enforcing essentially the same setof standards.
State fines for "Class B violations," infractions of work permitor hours requirements, have increased from the former $100-$500 range tothe federal level of $500 minimum and $1,000 maximum per occurrence.
More serious "Class A violations" include employing a minorunder 16 in a dangerous occupation, acting unlawfully so as to present animminent danger to a minor of any age, and violating the permit or hoursrequirements for a third time or more. The minimum civil money penaltyfor these offenses has been raised from $1,000 to $5,000, the maximum from$5,000 to $10,000. Willful violations of this type may also be groundsfor imprisonment.
While the Child Labor Reform Act has increased penalties, it also shouldreduce confusion stemming from differences between federal and state rules.
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