Child Labor Laws

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Child Labor Laws
Written by Barbara Mackessy
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Pretest for this Unit

• What are child labor laws?
• Why do we need child labor laws?
• At what age can you get your first legal job?
• How many hours can you work now?
• At what age do the hour restrictions disappear?
• At what age do the job restrictions disappear?
• What is the industrial revolution?
• Did children 14 hour days in the past?
• Did children as young as 5 work the long days?
• Why would anyone hire a 5 year old to work?

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Georgia Performance Standard

• MSCM8-3 Students will examine and demonstrate
  an understanding of employability skills to
  enhance career success.
• Explain and summarize the state and federal child
  labor laws.

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Lets take a look at how things were in the past
in America so that we have a good foundation of
background knowledge to understand the importance
of Child Labor Laws.

• When did people start working in America?
• What jobs were available at that time?

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How were things made in the old days long ago?

• Where did people get the things that they needed
  for everyday use?

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How things beganThe Cottage Industry Format

• Making things by yourself.
• Example you would get your clay, work the clay,
  spin the clay, and make a bowl, fire the bowl,
  glaze the bowl OR you would cut down the tree,
  saw off a piece of the tree and then carve out
  the bowl from the wood.
• You are responsible for all parts of the process.
• You could fix your mistake.
• You went at your own speed.

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Assembly Line Production

• You do not make the items by yourself.
• You work with other people.
• If you make a mistake, you can not fix it the
  item is moving down a line.
• More pressure on you to keep up.
• Products were produced faster.
• Products were produced cheaper.
• This brought prices down.

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When did things change?

• What is the Industrial Revolution?
• When did the Industrial Revolution start in
  America?
• Why is the Industrial Revolution important to us
  in our career class?

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Industrial Revolution

• Started in Great Britain in the late 1700s.
• Brought prices down
• Workers used machines to do the jobs they used to
  do by hand.
• Created an enormous increase in the production of
  goods.
• Changed peoples lives and made life easier for
  some people. Keep in mind that some still could
  not afford even cheap goods.
• The industrial revolution began the world we live
  in today.

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Francis Cabot Lowell

• He went to England from 1810-1812
• He visited Lancashire Mills, he came up with the
  idea to build an entire factory to carry the
  process from cotton to fabric (with his familys
  money).
• On the way back to America, he drew out all the
  things that he had seen in the past two years.
  Why would he wait until he was on the return
  trip?
• He returned to America, he and some others
  started a Manufacturing Company. They build the
  first Textile mill in Waltham, MA.
• This was the first textile mill in America.
• He found out what could happen if you follow your
  dreams.
• Mill opened in 1823.

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Manufacturing Mills

• By 1831, fewer than twenty years later, there
  were 250 mills and the number continued to
  increase until there were 302 mills in
  Massachusetts.
• In the mid 1800s there were thousands of women
  who worked in the mills. Really the first time
  that women worked outside of the home in large
  numbers.
• They produced over 2,000,000 yards of cotton per
  week. The cotton prints sold for 9-1/4 cents per
  yard but just five years earlier had sold for 111
  cents per yard. This meant that you could now
  buy 12 for the price of what one had been.
• Manufacturing plants cost a lot of money but the
  production made it worth every cent.

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Who worked in these textile mills?

• Mill Girls
• Ages 14-30
• Employed for 9 or 10 months a year
• They went home during the hottest summer months

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Average Day at the Mill

• The Mill Girl got up at 430 a.m. They had to
  get up, wash up, get dressed and be at the mill
  by 500 a.m.(6 days a week)
• At 505a.m., the gates were locked, if late the
  girls had to walk through the counting house
  where they were scolded, docked pay, or even
  fired.
• Bells rang at 700 a.m., noon, and 700 p.m. for
  30 minute meal breaks.
• Curfew hour was 1000 p.m, the last bell rang.
• Bell system kept them on schedule.
• Longer work days in summer (more light)
• Averaging 14 hour days, temperatures rising to
  110 degrees.
• Windows nailed shut, very humid, workers often
  got sick, sometimes killed by machinery

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The Lowell Mill Girls were the first women to go
on strike in America.

• Many mills were built over time which lead to
  over production which lead to wage cuts.
• In 1830s, they marched and sang songs and gave
  speeches.
• They wanted 12 hour days. They had been
  averaging 14 hour days.
• Most of the mill girls had left the mills by the
  mid 1850s.
• http//historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5714/

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Mill Girls Pay Check

• Keep in mind that they were paid according to
  their job title and department. They did not all
  make the same amount.
• If the Mill Girls earned 14.00 per week but had
  to pay the rooming house director 5.00 for their
  room and meals each week, how much did they make?
• Now if they worked averaged 14 hours per day and
  worked 6 days per week, how much per hour did
  they make?
• Keep in mind that women at this time had no
  rights, servants wages were 50 cent to one dollar
  a week, tailoress work in homes were 75 cents per
  week and meals.
• (Department of Natural Resources) and
  http//www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/robinson-lowell
  .html

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Class Discussion Imagine yourself as a mill
girl in the past, how would you feel about the
hours and wages?

• Keep in mind that they earned money to pay back
  taxes on family farms. They felt a sense of
  accomplishment and pride in doing so. (Women had
  no legal rights not even to own property at that
  time.)
• Also keep in mind that these girls were promised
  a good education in reading, writing and
  lady-like manners, which they needed to get a
  good man for marriage at that time.

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Immigrant Workers

• By 1870, most of the girls had left the mills.
• Immigrants replaced them.
• Immigrants were from Ireland, Canada, Italy and
  Greece.
• They got paid 1.25 a week working at the mills.
• They had to pay for their own food and water.
  That left them 75 cents per week.
• Working 14 hour days and 6 days per week how much
  did they make per hour?
• They lived in tenements (wooden apartments) with
  leaky roofs.
• Immigrants soon began to complain about the
  conditions and pay. They went on strike,
  marched, gave speeches and carried signs.
• The mills closed without people to work in them.
• Neither the immigrants nor the mills are making
  any money.

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Mills moved south as complaints and laws about
child labor were passed in the North

• Children as young as three could collect cotton
  waste.
• Children as young as seven could operate simple
  carding and spinning equipment.
• Children worked 12 hour days in the winter, 16
  hour days in the summer, 6 days a week.

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Why did they hire Children?

• Pay them less
• They complain less
• They are easier to control
• http//web.bryant.edu/ehu/h364proj/fall_98/hulton
  /Labor.htm

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Child Labor

• Children as young as five worked as doffers
  taking cotton off the machines, or as bobbin
  girls removing empty bobbins from the machines.
  
• Now think about you having already worked in the
  factory for 8 years for 12 or 14 hours a day by
  this time in your life.
• How would you feel if children could be
  employed today?
• In 1920 a law was passed that required children
  under the age of 15 to take 3 months off each
  year for school.

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Federal Child Labor Laws

• FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) 1938
  establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, record
  keeping, and child labor standards affecting
  full-time and part-time workers in the private
  sector and in federal, state and local
  governments (National Consumer League)
  (Smartbiz.com).
• Child Labor Laws are designed to protect the
  educational rights of children and to prevent
  them from being employed in jobs or conditions
  that could be detrimental to their health or well
  being (National Consumer League) (Smartbiz.com)

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Child Labor Throughout History

• For thousands of years children have been used as
  workers around the world.
• The use of children as workers began in the
  United States in the late 1700s and early
  1800s. Industrialization was a strong force in
  increasing the number of working children.
  (Stolen Dreams Portraits of Working Children by
  Parker, 1998).
• Over 2 million children worked in the United
  States 1900. These children worked in factories
  making clothes, weaving fabric, canning fish, or
  they picked cotton, sold newspapers, or shinned
  shoes (Working Children by Saller, 1998).

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History of Child Labor

• Poor children in large cities were sent out by
  parents as young as 6 or 7 to earn their keep and
  contribute to the household. The youngest worked
  as scavengers, gathering trash, cinders, rope,
  metal bottles, anything that could be sold to
  junk dealers.
• In 1870, the census reported 750,000 children
  under the age of 15 working, this does not
  include the number of children working on farms
  or in family businesses.

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Industrial Revolution

• Machinery took over functions formerly performed
  by hand. Children as young as five could tend
  these machines in textile industries and coal
  mines.
• Child labor became an issue in the U.S.

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History

• The National Child Labor Committee was formed in
  1904.
• Congress and the Supreme courts were at odds over
  regulations for child labor.
• It wasnt until 1938 that the Fair Labor
  Standards Act was passed children were provided
  some protection under law. The Act provided for
  40 hour weeks and 40 cents per hour. The Act was
  declared constitutional by the Supreme court in
  1941. (www.historyplace.com)
• Today, there are still a significant number of
  children who are migrant farm and sweatshop
  workers in the United States. (Stolen Dreams
  Portraits of Working Children by Parker, 1998)

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(No Transcript)
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Child Labor Laws apply to businesses that engage
in interstate commerce, producing good for
interstate commerce, or handling, selling or
working on goods or materials that have been
moved in or produced in interstate commerce.
Usually an annual dollar amount of 500,000
applies (Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Policy) (Small Business Handbook)
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Minimum Wage

• Federal minimum wage went to 5.85 per hour on
  July 24, 2007.
• Federal Minimum wage went to 6.55 on July 24,
  2008.
• Federal Minimum wages went to 7.25 on July 24,
  2009.
• (U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division)

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Non Agricultural Employment

• Minimum age is 14 years old
• Exceptions being newspaper delivery, radio,
  television, movie or theatrical productions
• Unless child works for parents, who are the sole
  owner of non manufacturing or hazardous business.
• (National Consumer League)

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14 and 15 year olds

• Outside of school hours
• Maximum 3 hours per day
• 18 hours per week
• 700 a.m. to 700 p.m.
• (Small Business Handbook) (Fair Labor Standards
  Act)

• When school is not in session
• 8 hours per day
• 40 hours per week
• June 1 to Labor Day
• 700a.m. to 900 p.m.
• Never overtime

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16 and 17 year olds

• Unlimited hours
• No laws restricting hours or days per week.
• Some jobs are still restricted

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• Hazardous Order 2 was revised in 1998 by Congress
  to allow 17 year olds to work on jobs with
  occupational driving. (National Consumers League)
• This is the first time that a child under the
  age of 18 could drive on a job.

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Lets review the information from this
presentation

• What are child labor laws?
• Why do we need child labor laws?
• At what age can you get your first legal job?
• How many hours can you work now?
• At what age do the hour restrictions disappear?
• At what age do the job restrictions disappear?
• What is the industrial revolution?
• Did children 14 hour days in the past?
• Did children as young as 5 work the long days?
• Why would people hire a 5 year old to work in the
  past?

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Hazardous Employment - Under 18 years old

• Manufacturing or storing explosives
• Driving motor vehicles and being an outside
  helper on a motor vehicle
• Coal mining
• Logging and saw milling
• Power-driven wood working machines
• Exposure to radioactive substances and to
  ionizing radiations
• Power driven hoisting equipment
• Power-driven metal forming, punching, and
  shearing machines
• Mining, other than coal mining
• Meat packing or processing
• Power driven bakery machines
• Power driven paper products machines
• Manufacturing brick, tile and related products
• Power driven circular saws, band saws, and
  guillotine shears
• Wrecking, demolition, and ship breaking
  operations
• Roofing operations
• Excavation operations
  
• (Federal Child Labor Laws)

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Agriculture Employment

• 10 13 year olds may work on farms owned by
  parents or with parents consent outside of
  school hours in non-hazardous jobs
• 14-15 year olds may work on farms outside of
  school hours in non-hazardous jobs
• 16 year olds may perform any job hazardous or not
  on the farm for unlimited hours

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Agribusiness

• Workers can not afford to pay day care with the
  low wages they receive from farmers.
• When earning low wages themselves they need all
  family members to work.
• Driving by fields in Oregon or Florida, one would
  see a common sight of children working in those
  fields.

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Penalties

• Employers are subject to a civil money penalty
  of up to 10,000 for each employee employed in
  violation of the child labor provisions.
• Employers may file an exemption within 15 days of
  the penalty an an hearing will take place to
  determine if the penalty was appropriate.
• Either party may appeal to the Secretary of
  Labor.
• If an exemption is not filed in 15 days the
  penalty is final. (Small business Handbook)

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Georgia requires a Work Permit for all children
under the age of 18. This permit is obtained
from your local Board of Education or your local
high school counselor. The employer, the child
and a designee from the Board of Education must
complete their section on the Work Permit.
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Georgia Laws

• No minor under 12 can work (federal under 14).
  Which one do you have to follow? Why?
• No minor under 16 can work between 900 p.m. and
  600 a.m. ( federal 900 p.m. and 700 a.m.)
  Which one do you have to follow? Why?
• Can not work during school hours.
• Never over 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week
  when school is not in session.
• Even through Georgia has these hours and ages as
  law, minors must meet all Federal Child Labor
  Laws.

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Georgia Prohibits Minors Under the age of 16

• Power driven machinery or equipment including
  elevators.
• Automobiles, trucks, tractors, motorcycles,
  locomotives or any other motorized vehicles of
  whatever design or intended use.
• Any hand or powered portable tools or equipment
  peculiar to or generally identified with the
  building and trades industry including pressure
  contained vessels whether or not portable.
• Butchering, slaughtering meat (including poultry
  and seafood) processing or rendering plant or
  freezing and packaging same.
• Fixtures Retail and wholesale stores where
  employment is in close proximity to hazardous
  fixtures, such as open boilers, deep fryers and
  demonstrable merchandise, such as electric fans,
  guns, knives, etc.
• Railroads, unguarded gears, vessels or boats
  whether or not engaged in navigation or
  commerce.
• From GA Dept of Labor

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Georgia - Prohibits

• Use of dangerous poisonous gases or acids
• Dispensing, packing, loading or unloading paints
  or dyes.
• Any operation where dust or lint in injurious
  quantities are present.
• Scaffolding or construction.
• Communication or public utilities.
• Freezers and/or meat coolers.
• Loading and unloading goods to or from trucks,
  railroad cars, conveyors etc.
• Warehouses
• Explosives
• Logging and saw milling
• Radioactive substances
• Wrecking, shipwrecking, roofing and/or
  demolition.
• Excavation and /or tunneling.
• Mine, coke breaker, coke over or quarry.
• From GA Dept of Labor

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Child Labor Around the World

• Child labor in other countries still exist
  because of the poverty levels. The childs
  income serves as a major contribution to the
  families total income.
• Africa and Asia account for 90 of total child
  employment.
• A study found that the child decides to work in
  only 8 of the time in these developing
  countries. The other 92 of the time they are
  made or required to work.
• (Human Capital Development and Operations Policy)

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Child Labor Laws are for minors under the age of
18.

• Many companies and agencies require that their
  employees be older than 18 years old.
• Examples include Some sheriffs department, some
  police departments, many trucking companies, and
  Federal Government agencies such as FBI, CIA,
• Some companies and agencies require that their
  employees have a Bachelors Degree before
  applying for a position.

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Lets Review Again To Make Sure We Have a Good
Understanding of the Laws.

• Why do we need Child Labor Laws?
• What are child labor laws?
• At what age can you get your first legal job?
• How many hours can you work during the school
  year at age 14?
• How many hours can you work per week during the
  school year?
• How many hours can you work per day during the
  summer as a 14 year old?
• How many hours can you work per week during the
  summer as a 14 year old?
• At what age do the hour restrictions disappear?
• At what age do the job restrictions disappear?

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Federal Child Labor Law

• The intent of the Federal Child Labor Law is to
  protect the health, safety and welfare of all
  children under the age of 18 by restricting the
  hours of work and the conditions and occupations
  involved.

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Child Labor Law
Minimum Age

• The minimum age for employment is 14 years old
  unless you are employed on a farm or domestic
  service, then there are no restrictions.
• Special restrictions apply to deliver newspapers,
  being in theater, modeling, television and the
  motion pictures.

Note Georgia Work Permits are required for all
jobs except farm work, domestic work, lawns of
residents and babysitting.
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Georgia Child Labor Law
Work Permit

• Everyone under 18 years of age needs a work
  permit.
• For 16 and 17 year olds this work permit is a
  transferable employment certificate. This can be
  transferred between employers from job to job.
• For 14 and 15 year olds a new work permit must be
  obtained every time they switch employers.
• The work permits can be obtained from you local
  high school counselors and then completed online
  or by your local board of education.

Workers Permit is required unless you are 18
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Georgia Child Labor Law

• An overview of hours of work.
• 14 and 15 year olds are not permitted to work
  more than 3 hours per day nor more than 18 hours
  per week when school is in session They can not
  be at work before 7am or after 7pm during the
  school year.
• From June to Labor day or until your local school
  starts they can work 8 hours per day and 40 hours
  per week and be at work up to 9pm during the
  summer.
• The law states June Labor Day- but with our
  schools starting in July and/or August then a 14
  year old must go to 3 hours per day when school
  starts.
• Never overtime.
• Jobs are still limited

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Georgia Child Labor Law
16 and 17 year olds

• During the School year.
• Students may work as many hours as they would
  like.
• There are no starting and stopping hour
  restrictions.
• All hour restrictions disappear.
• Jobs are still restricted

• During the Summer time
• Students may work as many hours as they would
  like.
• There are no starting and stopping hour
  restrictions on what can be worked.
• All hour restrictions disappear.
• Jobs are still restricted.

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Georgia Child Labor Law

• At the age of 18 the job restrictions disappear.
• Be aware that some companies have an age
  restriction of 21 or even 25 (company policy not
  law).

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Georgia Child Labor Law
Prohibited Occupations under 18
Here are few occupations that are prohibited

• Roofing
• Welding
• Demolition
• Woodworking Machinery
• Paper products machinery
• Bakery mixing Machinery
• Cleaning or oiling Machinery
• Punch press Machinery

• Crane and hoisting operations
• Electrical work
• Explosives
• Radioactive substances
• Elevator operations
• Excavating
• Manufacturing
• Mining

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Georgia Child Labor Law
Prohibited Occupations under 16
Some prohibited occupations are

• No machinery
• No manufacturing of any kind
• No building or construction work
• No heavy work
• No highway work (open road)
• No freezers/coolers
• No explosives
• No warehouses
• No loading/unloading trucks

• Where liquor is sold or dispensed
• No scaffolds and ladders
• No window cleaning (above ground)
• No hand or power tools
• No stoves, ovens
• No work on communication or public utilities
• No logging
• No weapons

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Georgia Child Labor Law

• These were just some examples of prohibited
  occupations under Georgias Child Labor Law.
• For more details on these and other occupations
  or any other information on the Child Labor Laws
  check with the Georgia Department of Labor.

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• A very good site to find additional child labor
  law information and details.
• You can find out more on their web site
• http//www.youthrules.dol.gov/
• 1-866-4-USWAGE
• Also contact
• Georgia Department of Labor
• US Department of Labor

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Georgia Child Labor Law

• As you start your job hunting remember to keep
  safety in mind and follow all rules and
  regulations.
• Work experience while in school can be very
  enlightening.
• Early work experience will show you what the
  expectations of future employers.

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Preview of Future Evaluation Your Opinion
Your Views

• Now that we know the facts about the Federal
  Child Labor Laws, do you think that the minimum
  ages should be remain at 14, should it be
  increased to an older age, or should it be
  decreased to an age below 14?
• Explain your reasons in detail.
• Be ready to defend your answer to the class.
• Tally the class as to the number who selected
  each one.

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Preview of Future EvaluationTask for 14-15
year olds.

• Now that you have a good understanding of what a
  minor can or can not do, make a list of 20 tasks
  or jobs that a 14 or 15 year old can legally
  perform at the worksite.
• Keep a running list on the board of all the tasks
  or jobs that the class comes up with. Compile
  that list into a poster.
• Now what locations in your community offer these
  tasks?

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The money you save with your part time job after
school and during the summer could pay for your
food and dorm room in college. The HOPE
Scholarship could pay for you tuition and books.