The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is proposing to revise the child labor regulations issued pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set forth the criteria for the permissible employment of minors under 18 years of age in agricultural and nonagricultural occupations.
The proposal would implement specific recommendations made by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, increase parity between the agricultural and nonagricultural child labor provisions, and also address other areas that can be improved, which were identified by the Department’s own enforcement actions.
The changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act would affect the employment of minors under the age of 18 in both agricultural and non-agricultural industries.
The proposal involves specific recommendations from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that claims the legislation affects only hired farm workers and in "no way compromises the statutory child labor parental exemption involving children working on farms owned or operated by their parents."
But agriculture groups including the Farm Bureau say that while that is technically true, it does not examine the impact the changes would have on rural communities and farm life.
In addition, if the farm is not completely owned by the parents, if it is in a corporation, an LLC or owned by family members other than parents of a particular child, the exemption would not apply and would have a drastic effect on many farms.
The proposal would prohibit farm workers under age 16 from participating in agricultural work with animals and poultry, pesticide handling, timber operations, manure pits and storage bins,
It also would prohibit youth under age 16 from operating almost all power-driven equipment, a regulation that has applied to nonagricultural workers under the age of 16 for about 50 years.
They also would be prohibited from operating power-driven equipment while using electronic or communication devices.
Additionally, workers under age 18 could not be employed in the storing, marketing and transporting of raw farm product materials, the release said.
Youth under age 18 could not work in country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges
While many agricultural employers see little threat to their own operations, they fear the impact the changes in the laws may have on the agricultural industry as a whole.
According to reports from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an estimated 1.12 million youth under age 20 resided on farms in 2006, with about 590,000 of these youth performing work on the farms. On average, 8 per 100,000 youth died annually from farm-related injuries between 1995 and 2002.
The leading sources of fatal injuries to youth on farms were machinery, motor vehicles and drowning, according to 2009 reports.
While few deny the inherent dangers of working in the agricultural industry, many within the industry feel strongly that necessary regulations already are enforced by those who run the operations.
Going back many decades, farm children have driven tractors before they were old enough to drive cars; they've ridden horses and driven cattle before learning how to ride a bicycle; they've gathered eggs from shed roofs and other high places, and chosen the chicken for Sunday dinner. In the process, they have learned about safety and taking responsibility, learned new life-sustaining skills, and developed work habits that last a life time.
Many see legislation that severely curtails learning experiences and responsibility while making farms more expensive to run may not be in the best interest, not only of farm culture, but of a very productive way of life.