29 C.F.R. Subpart G—General Statements of Interpretation of the Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as Amended
Title 29 - Labor
Authority: 52 Stat. 1060–1069, as amended; 29 U.S.C. 201–219.
(a) This subpart discusses the meaning and scope of the child labor provisions contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the Act). These provisions seek to protect the safety, health, well-being, and opportunities for schooling of youthful workers and authorize the Secretary of Labor to issue legally binding orders or regulations in certain instances and under certain conditions. The child labor provisions are found in sections 3(1), 11(b), 12, 13 (c) and (d), 15(a)(4), 16(a), and 18 of the Act. They are administered and enforced by the Secretary of Labor who has delegated to the Wage and Hour Division the duty of making investigations to obtain compliance, and of developing standards for the issuance of regulations and orders relating to: (1) Hazardous occupations, (2) employment of 14- and 15-year-old children, and (3) age certificates. (b) The interpretations of the Secretary contained in this subpart indicate the construction of the law which will guide him in performing his duties until he is directed otherwise by authoritative rulings of the courts or until he shall subsequently decide that his prior interpretation is incorrect. [16 FR 7008, July 20, 1951. Redesignated at 28 FR 1634, Feb. 21, 1963. Redesignated and amended at 36 FR 25156, Dec. 29, 1971] The most important of the child labor provisions are contained in sections 12(a), 12(c), and 3(l) of the Act. Section 12(a) provides that no producer, manufacturer, or dealer shall ship or deliver for shipment in interstate or foreign commerce any goods produced in an establishment in or about which oppressive child labor was employed within 30 days before removal of the goods. The full text of this subsection is set forth in §570.104 and its terms are discussed in §§570.105 to 570.111, inclusive. Section 12(c) prohibits any employer from employing oppressive child labor in interstate or foreign commerce or in the production of goods for such commerce. The text and discussion of this provision appear in §§570.112 and 570.113. Section 3(l) of the Act, which defines the term “oppressive child labor,” is set forth in §570.117 and its provisions are discussed in §§570.118 to 570.121, inclusive. It will further be noted that the Act provides various specific exemptions from the foregoing provisions which are set forth and discussed in §§570.122 to 570.126, inclusive. A comparison of the child labor provisions with the so-called wage and hours provisions contained in the Act discloses some important distinctions which should be mentioned. (a) The child labor provisions contain no requirements in regard to wages. The wage and hours provisions, on the other hand, provide for minimum rates of pay for straight time and overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay for overtime hours worked. Except as provided in certain exemptions contained in the Act, these rates are required to be paid all employees subject to the wage and hours provisions, regardless of their age or sex. The fact therefore, that the employment of a particular child is prohibited by the child labor provisions or that certain shipments or deliveries may be proscribed on account of such employment, does not relieve the employer of the duties imposed by the wage and hours provisions to compensate the child in accordance with those requirements. (b) There are important differences between the child labor provisions and the wage and hours provisions with respect to their general coverage. As pointed out in §570.114, two separate and basically different coverage provisions are contained in section 12 relating to child labor. One of these provisions (section 12(c)), which applies to the employment by an employer of oppressive child labor in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, is similar to the wage and hours coverage provisions, which include employees engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce or employed in enterprises having employees so engaged. The other provision (section 12(a)), however, differs fundamentally in its basic concepts of coverage from the wage and hours provisions, as will be explained in §§570.104 to 570.111. (c) Another distinction is that the exemptions provided by the Act from the minimum wage and/or overtime provisions are more numerous and differ from the exemptions granted from the child labor provisions. There are only four specific child labor exemptions of which only one applies to the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements as well. This is the exemption for employees engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the consumer.3 3 Section 13(d) of the Act. 4 Section 13(d) defines “employer” to include “any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee but shall not include the United States or any State or political subdivision of a State, or any labor organization (other than when acting as an employer), or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization”. [16 FR 7008, July 20, 1951. Redesignated at 28 FR 1634, Feb. 21, 1963. Redesignated and amended at 36 FR 25156, Dec. 29, 1971]
Title 29: Labor
PART 570—CHILD LABOR REGULATIONS, ORDERS AND STATEMENTS OF INTERPRETATION
Subpart G—General Statements of Interpretation of the Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as Amended
General
§ 570.101 Introductory statement.
§ 570.102 General scope of statutory provisions.
§ 570.103 Comparison with wage and hour provisions.
Coverage of Section 12(a)
§ 570.104 General.
Section 12(a) of the Act provides as follows:
No producer, manufacturer, or dealer shall ship or deliver for shipment in commerce any goods produced in an establishment situated in the United States in or about which within 30 days prior to the removal of such goods therefrom any oppressive child labor has been employed: Provided, That any such shipment or delivery for shipment of such goods by a purchaser who acquired them in good faith in reliance on written assurance from the producer, manufacturer, or dealer that the goods were produced in compliance with the requirements of this section, and who acquired such goods for value without notice of any such violation, shall not be deemed prohibited by this subsection: And provided further, That a prosecution and conviction of a defendant for the shipment or delivery for shipment of any goods under the conditions herein prohibited shall be a bar to any further prosecution against the same defendant for shipments or deliveries for shipment of any such goods before the beginning of said prosecution.
In determining the applicability of this provision, consideration of the meaning of the terms used is necessary. These terms are discussed in §§570.105 to 570.111, inclusive.
§ 570.105 “Producer, manufacturer, or dealer”.
It will be observed that the prohibition of section 12(a) with respect to certain shipments or deliveries for shipment is confined to those made by producers, manufacturers, and dealers. The terms “producer, manufacturer, or dealer” used in this provision are not expressly defined by the statute. However, in view of the definition of “produced” in section 3(j), for purposes of this section a “producer” is considered to be one who engages in producing, manufacturing, handling or in any other manner working on goods in any State.5
5 For a discussion of the definition of “produced” as it relates to section 12(a), see §570.108.
6 See §570.107.
§ 570.106 “Ship or deliver for shipment in commerce”.
(a) Section 12(a) forbids producers, manufacturers, and dealers to “ship or deliver for shipment in commerce” the goods referred to therein. A producer, manufacturer, or dealer may “ship” goods in commerce either by moving them himself in interstate or foreign commerce or by causing them to so move, as by delivery to a carrier.7
7 Section 3(b) of the Act defines “commerce” to mean “trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or between any State and any place outside thereof.”
8 Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Lenroot, 323 U.S. 490.
(b) To “deliver for shipment in commerce” means to surrender the custody of goods to another under such circumstances that the person surrendering the goods knows or has reason to believe that the goods will later be shipped in commerce.9
9 Tobin v. Grant, N. D. Calif., 79 Sup. 975 which was a suit for injunction by the Secretary of Labor against a manufacturer of books and book covers employing oppressive child labor. The facts showed that the manufactured articles sold by defendant to purchasers in the same State had an ultimate out-of-State destination which was manifest to defendant. The court construed the words “deliver for shipment in commerce” as sufficiently broad to cover this situation even though the purchasers acquired title to the goods.
§ 570.107 “Goods”.10
10 The term goods is discussed in more detail in part 776 of this title (Interpretative Bulletin on the coverage of the wage and hours provisions) issued by the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division.
(a) Section 12(a) prohibits the shipment or delivery for shipment in commerce of “any goods” produced in an establishment which were removed within 30 days of the employment there of oppressive child labor. It should be noted that the statute does not base the prohibition of section 12(a) upon the percentage of an establishment's output which is shipped in commerce.
(b) The Act furnishes its own definition of “goods” in section 3(i), as follows:
Goods means goods (including ships and marine equipment), wares, products, commodities, merchandise, or articles or subjects of commerce of any character, or any part or ingredient thereof, but does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of the ultimate consumer thereof other than a producer, manufacturer, or processor thereof.
The term includes such things as food-stuffs, clothing, machinery, printed materials, blueprints and also includes intangibles such as news, ideas, and intelligence. The statute expressly excludes goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of an ultimate consumer other than a producer, manufacturer, or processor thereof. Accordingly, such a consumer may lawfully ship articles in his possession although they were ineligible for shipments (commonly called “hot goods”) before he received them.11
11 For a discussion of the exclusionary clause in section 3(i) of the Act, see Powell et al. v. United States Cartridge Co., 70 S. CT. 755.
§ 570.108 “Produced”.
The word “produced” as used in the Act is defined by section 3(j) to mean:
* * * produced, manufactured, mined, handled, or in any other manner worked on in any state; * * *12
12 The remaining portion of section 3(j) provides: “ * * * and for the purposes of this Act an employee shall be deemed to have been engaged in the production of goods if such employee was employed in producing, manufacturing, mining, handling, transporting, or in any other manner working on such goods, or in any closely related process or occupation directly essential to the production thereof, in any State.”
(a) The prohibition of section 12(a) cannot apply to a shipment of goods unless those goods (including any part or ingredient thereof) were actually “produced” in and removed from an establishment where oppressive child labor was employed. This provision is applicable even though the under-age employee does not engage in the production of the goods themselves if somewhere in the establishment in or about which he is employed goods are “produced” which are subsequently shipped or delivered for shipment in commerce. In contrast to this restrictive requirement of section 12(a), it will be noted that the employees covered under the wage and hours provisions as engaged in the production of goods for commerce are not limited to those in or about establishments where such goods are being produced. If the requisite relationship13
13 See footnote 12.
14 See part 776 of this title (interpretative Bulletin on the coverage of the wage and hours provisions) issued by the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division. Also, see §§570.112 and 570.113.
(b) Since the first word in the definition of “produced” repeats the term being defined, it seems clear that the first word must carry the meaning that it has in everyday language. Goods are commonly spoken of as “produced” if they have been brought into being as a result of the application of work. The words “manufactured” and “mined” in the definition refer to special forms of production. The former term is generally applied to the products of industry where existing raw materials are transformed into new or different articles by the use of industrial methods, either by the aid of machinery or by manual operations. Mining is a type of productive activity involving the taking of materials from the ground, such as coal from a coal mine, oil from oil wells, or stone from quarries. The statute also defines the term “produced” to mean “handled” or “in any other manner work on.”15
15 For a more complete discussion of these words, see §776.16 of part 776 (bulletin on coverage of the wage and hours provisions) of chapter V of this title.
16 In Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Lenroot, 323 U.S. 490, the Supreme Court stated that these words bring within the statutory definition “every step in putting the subject of commerce in a state to enter commerce,” including “all steps, whether manufacture or not, which lead to readiness for putting goods into the stream of commerce” and “every kind of incidental operation preparatory to putting goods into the stream of commerce.”
17 Lenroot v. Kemp and Lenroot v. Hazlehurst Mercantile Co., 153 F. 2d 153 (C.A. 5), where the court directed issuance of injunctions to restrain violations of the child labor provisions by operators of vegetable packing sheds at which they bought, then washed, sorted, crated, and packed cabbage and tomatoes for shipment in interstate commerce.
18 Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Lenroot, 323 U.S. 490.
§ 570.109 “Establishment situated in the United States”.
(a)(1) The statute does not expressly define “establishment.” Accordingly, the term should be given a meaning which is not only consistent with its ordinary usage, but also designed to accomplish the general purposes of the Act. As normally used in business and in Government, the word “establishment” refers to a distinct physical place of business. This is the meaning attributed to the term as it is used in section 13(a)(2) of the Act.19
19 A. H. Phillips, Inc. v. Walling, 324 U.S. 490. See part 779 (bulletin on the retail and service establishment exemption from the wage and hours provisions) of chapter V of this title.
(2) Frequently, questions arise as to what should be considered a single establishment. No hard and fast rule can be laid down which will fix the area of all establishments. Accordingly, a determination of the area contained in a single establishment must be based upon the facts of each individual situation. Facts which are particularly pertinent in this connection, however, are those which relate to the physical characteristics and the manner of operation and control of the business. Sometimes, an establishment may extend over an area of several square miles as is common with farms, logging enterprises, mines, and quarries. On the other hand, it may be confined to a few square feet. A typical illustration of this is a loft building that houses the workshops of hundreds of independent manufacturing firms. Each of the workshops is, for purposes of this section, a separate establishment.
(3) Similar principles are applicable in determining whether several buildings located on the same premises constitute one establishment or more than one. For example, where several factory buildings are located on the same premises and owned and operated by the same person, they are generally to be considered as a single establishment. On the other hand, factory buildings located on the same premises, but owned and operated by different persons, will not ordinarily be treated as a single establishment. Where the several factories, however, are engaged in a joint productive enterprise, they may constitute a single establishment. This is the case, for example, where a large shipyard contains the plants of a number of subcontractors who are engaged in making parts or equipment for the boats that are built in the yard.
(b) The phrase “situated in the United States” is construed to include any of the 50 States or the District of Columbia or any Territory or possession of the United States.
§ 570.110 “In or about”.
(a) Section 12(a) excludes from the channels of interstate commerce goods produced in an establishment “in or about” which oppressive child labor has been employed. In a great many situations it is obviously easy to determine whether a minor is employed “in” an establishment. Thus, he is so employed where he performs his occupational duties on the premises of the producing establishment. Furthermore, a minor is also considered as employed in an establishment where he performs most of his duties off the premises but is regularly required to perform certain occupational duties in the establishment, such as loading or unloading a truck, checking in or out, or washing windows. This is true in such cases even though the minor is employed by someone other than the owner or operator of the particular establishment. On the other hand, a minor is not considered to be employed in an establishment other than his employer's merely because such establishment is visited by him for brief periods of time and for the sole purpose of picking up or delivering a message or other small article.
(b) If, in the light of the statements in paragraph (a) of this section, the minor cannot be considered as employed in the establishment, he may, nevertherless, be employed “about” it if he performs his occupational duties sufficiently close in proximity to the actual place of production to fall within the commonly understood meaning of the term “about.” This would be true in a situation where the foregoing proximity test is met and the occupation of the minor is directly related to the activities carried on in the producing establishment, in this connection, occupations are considered sufficiently related to the activities carried on in the producing establishment to meet the second test above at least where the requisite relationship to production of goods exists within the meaning of section 3(j) of the Act.20
20 See part 776 (bulletin on coverage of the wage and hours provisions) of this title.
(1) Actual distance between the producing establishment and the minor's place of employment;
(2) Nature of the establishment;
(3) Ownership or control of the premises involved;
(4) Nature of the minor's activities in relation to the establishment's purpose;
(5) Identity of the minor's employer and the establishment's owner;
(6) Extent of control by the producing establishment's owner over the minor's employment.
§ 570.111 Removal “within 30 days”.
According to section 12(a) goods produced in an establishment in or about which oppressive child labor has been employed are barred as “hot goods” from being shipped or delivered for shipment in commerce in the following two situations: First, if they were removed from the establishment while any oppressive child labor was still being employed in or about it; second, if they were removed from an establishment in or about which oppressive child labor was no longer employed but less than 30 days had then elapsed since any such employment of oppressive child labor came to an end. Once any goods have been removed from a producing establishment within the above-mentioned thirty-day period, they are barred at any time theafter from being shipped or delivered for shipment in commerce so long as they remain “goods” for purposes of the Act.21
21 However, section 12(a) contains a provision relieving innocent purchasers from liability thereunder provided certain conditions are met. For a discussion of this provision, see §570.128.
Also, section 15(a)(1) relieves any common carrier from liability under the Act for the transportation in commerce in the regular course of its business of any goods not produced by such common carrier.
22 For a discussion of the meaning of “establishment,” see §570.109.
23 [Reserved]
[16 FR 7008, July 20, 1951, as amended at 23 FR 6240, Aug. 14, 1958. Redesignated at 28 FR 1634, Feb. 21, 1963. Redesignated and amended at 36 FR 25156, Dec. 29, 1971]
Coverage of Section 12(c)
§ 570.112 General.
(a) Section 12(c) of the Act provides as follows:
No employer shall employ any oppressive child labor in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce or in an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.
(b) This provision, which was added by amendments of 1949 and 1961 to the Act, broadens child labor coverage to include employment in commerce. Moreover, it establishes a direct prohibition of the employment of oppressive child labor in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. The legislative history pertaining to this provision leads to the conclusion that Congress intend its application to be generally consistent with that of wage and hours coverage provisions. The application of the provision depends on the existence of two necessary elements: (1) The employment of “oppressive child labor”24
24 “Oppressive child labor” is discussed in §§570.117 to 570.121, inclusive.
[36 FR 25156, Dec. 29, 1971]
§ 570.113 Employment “in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce”.
(a) The term “employ” is broadly defined in section 3(g) of the Act to include “to suffer or permit to work.” The Act expressly provides that the term “employer” includes “any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee”. The nature of an employer-employee relationship is ordinarily to be determined not solely on the basis of the contractual relationship between the parties but also in the light of all the facts and circumstances. Moreover, the terms “employer” and “employ” as used in the Act are broader than the common-law concept of employment and must be interpreted broadly in the light of the mischief to be corrected. Thus, neither the technical relationship between the parties nor the fact that the minor is unsupervised or receives no compensation is controlling in determining whether an employer-employee relationship exists for purposes of section 12(c) of the Act. However, these are matters which should be considered along with all other facts and circumstances surrounding the relationship of the parties in arriving at such determination. The words “suffer or permit to work” include those who suffer by a failure to hinder and those who permit by acquiescence in addition to those who employ by oral or written contract. A typical illustration of employment of oppressive child labor by suffering or permitting an under-aged minor to work is that of an employer who knows that his employee is utilizing the services of such a minor as a helper or substitute in performing his employer's work. If the employer acquiesces in the practice or fails to exercise his power to hinder it, he is himself suffering or permitting the helper to work and is, therefore, employing him, within the meaning of the Act. Where employment does exist within the meaning of the Act, it must, of course, be in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce or in an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce in order for section 12(c) to be applicable.
(b) As previously indicated, the scope of coverage of section 12(c) of the Act is, in general, coextensive with that of the wage and hours provisions. The basis for this conclusion is provided by the similarity in the language used in the respective provisions and by statements appearing in the legislative history concerning the intended effect of the addition of section 12(c). Accordingly, it may be generally stated that employees considered to be within the scope of the phrases “in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce” for purposes of the wage and hours provisions are also included within the identical phrases used in section 12(c). To avoid needless repetition, reference is herein made to the full discussion of principles relating to the general coverage of the wage and hours provisions contained in parts 776 and 779 of this chapter. In this connection, however, it should be borne in mind that lack of coverage under the wage and hours provisions or under section 12(c) does not necessarily preclude the applicability of section 12(a) of the Act.26
26 See §570.116
[36 FR 25156, Dec. 29, 1971]
Joint and Separate Applicability of Sections 12(a) and 12(c)
§ 570.114 General.
It should be noted that section 12(a) does not directly outlaw the employment of oppressive child labor. Instead, it prohibits the shipment or delivery for shipment in interstate or foreign commerce of goods produced in an establishment where oppressive child labor has been employed within 30 days before removal of the goods. Section 12(c), on the other hand, is a direct prohibition against the employment of oppressive child labor in commerce, or in the production of goods for commerce. Moreover, the two subsections provide different methods for determining the employees who are covered thereby. Thus, subsection (a) may be said to apply to young workers on an “establishment” basis. If the standards for child labor are not observed in the employment of minors in or about an establishment where goods are produced and from which such goods are removed within the statutory 30-day period, it becomes unlawful for any producer, manufacturer, or dealer (other than an innocent purchaser who is in compliance with the requirements for a good faith defense as provided in the subsection) to ship or deliver those goods for shipment in commerce. It is not necessary for the minor himself to have been employed by the producer of such goods or in their production in order for the ban to apply. On the other hand, whether the employment of a particular minor below the applicable age standard will subject his employer to the prohibition of subsection (c) is dependent upon the minor himself being employed in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or in an enterprise engaged in commerce or in production of goods for commerce within the meaning of the Act. If such a minor is so employed by his employer and is not specifically exempt from the child labor provisions then his employment under such circumstances constitutes a violation of section 12(c) regardless of where he may be employed or what his employer may do. Moreover, a violation of section 12(c) occurs under the foregoing circumstances without regard to whether there is a “removal” of goods or a shipment or delivery for shipment in commerce.
[36 FR 25157, Dec. 29, 1971]
§ 570.115 Joint applicability.
The child labor coverage provisions contained in sections 12(a) and 12(c) of the Act may be jointly applicable in certain situations. For example, a manufacturer of women's dresses who ships them in interstate commerce, employs a minor under 16 years of age who gathers and bundles scraps of material in the cutting room of the plant. Since the employment of the minor under such circumstances constitutes oppressive child labor and involves the production of goods for commerce, the direct prohibition of section 12(c) is applicable to the case. In addition, section 12(a) also applies to the manufacturer if the dresses are removed from the establishment during the course of the minor's employment or within 30 days thereafter. To illustrate further, suppose that a transportation company employs a 17-year-old boy as helper on a truck used for hauling materials between railroads and the plants of its customers who are engaged in producing goods for shipment in commerce. The employment of the minor as helper on a truck is oppressive child labor because such occupation has been declared particularly hazardous by the Secretary for children between 16 and 18 years of age. Since his occupation involves the transportation of goods which are moving in interstate commerce, his employment in such occupation by the transportation company is, therefore, directly prohibited by the terms of section 12(c). If the minor's duties in this case should, for example, include loading and unloading the truck at the establishments of the customers of his employer, then the provisions of section 12(a) might be applicable with respect to such customers. This would be true where any goods which they produce and ship in commerce are removed from the producing establishment within 30 days after the minor's employment there.
§ 570.116 Separate applicability.
There are situations where section 12(c) does not apply because the minor himself is not considered employed in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. This does not exclude the possibility of coverage under the provisions of section 12(a), however. In those cases where oppressive child labor is employed in commerce but not in or about a producing establishment, coverage exists under section 12(c) but not under the provisions of section 12(a). The employment of telegraph messengers under 16 years of age would normally involve this type of situation.27
27 In “Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Lenroot,” 323 U.S. 490, the court held section 12(a) inapplicable to Western Union on the grounds that the company does not “produce” or “ship” goods within the meaning of that subsection.
[36 FR 25157, Dec. 29, 1971]
Oppressive Child Labor
§ 570.117 General.
(a) Section 3(1) of the Act defines “oppressive child labor” as follows:
Oppressive child labor means a condition of employment under which (1) any employee under the age of sixteen years is employed by an employer (other than a parent or a person standing in place of a parent employing his own child or a child in his custody under the age of sixteen years in an occupation other than manufacturing or mining or an occupation found by the Secretary of Labor to be particularly hazardous for the employment of children between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years or detrimental to their health or well-being) in any occupation, or (2) any employee between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years is employed by an employer in any occupation which the Secretary of Labor shall find and by order declare to be particularly hazardous for the employment of children between such ages or detrimental to their health or well-being, but oppressive child labor shall not be deemed to exist by virtue of the employment in any occupation of any person with respect to whom the employer shall have on file an unexpired certificate issued and held pursuant to regulations of the Secretary of Labor certifying that such person is above the oppressive child labor age. The Secretary of Labor shall provide by regulation or by order that the employment of employees between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years in occupations other than manufacturing and mining shall not be deemed to constitute oppressive child labor if and to the extent that the Secretary of Labor determines that such employment is confined to periods which will not interfere with their schooling and to conditions which will not interfere with their health and well-being.
(b) It will be noted that the term includes generally the employment of young workers under the age of 16 years in any occupation. In addition, the term includes employment of minors 16 and 17 years of age by an employer in any occupation which the Secretary finds and declares to be particularly hazardous for the employment of children of such ages or detrimental to their health or well-being. Authority is also given the Secretary to issue orders or regulations permitting the employment of children 14 and 15 years of age in nonmanufacturing and nonmining occupations where he determines that such employment is confined to periods which will not interfere with their schooling and to conditions which will not interfere with their health and well-being. The subsection further provides for the issuance of age certificates pursuant to regulations of the Secretary which will protect an employer from unwitting employment of oppressive child labor.
§ 570.118 Sixteen-year minimum.
The Act sets a 16-year-age minimum for employment in manufacturing or mining occupations. Furthermore, this age minimum is applicable to employment in all other occupations unless otherwise provided by regulation or order issued by the Secretary.
§ 570.119 Fourteen-year minimum.
With respect to employment in occupations other than manufacturing and mining, the Secretary is authorized to issue regulations or orders lowering the age minimum to 14 years where he finds that such employment is confined to periods which will not interfere with the minors' schooling and to conditions which will not interfere with their health and well-being. Pursuant to this authority, the Secretary permits the employment of 14- and 15-year-old children in a limited number of occupations where the work is performed outside school hours and is confined to other specified limits. Under the provisions of Child Labor Regulation No. 3, as amended,28
28 Subpart C of this part.
(a) Manufacturing, mining, or processing occupations;
(b) Occupations requiring the performance of any duties in a workroom or workplace where goods are manufactured, mined, or otherwise processed;
(c) Occupations involving the operation or tending of hoisting apparatus or of any power-driven machinery other than office machines;
(d) Public messenger service;
(e) Occupations declared to be particularly hazardous or detrimental to health or well-being by the Secretary; or
(f) Occupations (except office or sales work) in connection with: (1) Transportation of persons or property by rail, highway, air, water, pipeline, or other means; (2) warehousing and storage; (3) communications and public utilities, and (4) construction (including demolition and repair).
The exception permitting office and sales work performed in connection with the occupations specified in paragraph (f) of this section does not apply if such work is performed on trains or any other media of transportation or at the actual site of construction operations. Employment of 14- and 15-year-olds in all occupations other than the foregoing is permitted by the regulation, if the following conditions are observed: (i) Employment only outside school hours and between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., except during the summer (June 1 through Labor Day) when the evening hour will be 9 p.m.; (ii) employment for not more than 3 hours a day nor more than 18 hours a week when school is in session; and, (iii) employment for not more than 8 hours a day nor more than 40 hours a week when school is not in session. The employment of minors under 14 years of age is not permissible under any circumstances if the employment is covered by the child labor provisions and not specifically exempt.
[36 FR 25157, Dec. 29, 1971]
§ 570.120 Eighteen-year minimum.
To protect young workers from hazardous employment, the Act provides for a minimum age of 18 years in occupations found and declared by the Secretary to be particularly hazardous or detrimental to health or well-being for minors 16 and 17 years of age. Hazardous-occupations orders are the means through which occupations are declared to be particularly hazardous for minors. They are issued after public hearing and advice from committees composed of representatives of employers and employees of the industry and the public and in accordance with procedure established in Child Labor Regulations No. 5 published in subpart D of this part. The effect of these orders is to raise the minimum age for employment to 18 years in the occupations covered. Seventeen orders, published in subpart E of this part, have thus far been issued under the Act and are now in effect. In general, they cover:
No. 1. Occupations in or about plants manufacturing explosives or articles containing explosive components. No. 2. Occupations of motor-vehicle driver and helper. No. 3. Coal-mine occupations. No. 4. Logging occupations and occupations in the operation of any sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or cooperage-stock mill. No. 5. Occupations involved in the operation of power-driven woodworking machines. No. 6. Occupations involving exposure to radioactive substances. No. 7. Occupations involved in the operation of power-driven hoisting apparatus. No. 8. Occupations involved in the operation of power-driven metal forming, punching, and shearing machines. No. 9. Occupations in connection with mining, other than coal. No. 10. Occupations in or about slaughtering and meat packing establishments and rendering plants. No. 11. Occupations involved in the operation of bakery machines. No. 12. Occupations involved in the operations of paper products machines. No. 13. Occupations involved in the manufacture of brick, tile, and kindred products. No. 14. Occupations involved in the operation of circular saws, bandsaws, and guillotine shears. No. 15. Occupations in wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking operations. No. 16. Occupations in roofing operations. No. 17. Occupations in excavation operations.
[36 FR 25158, Dec. 29, 1971]
§ 570.121 Age certificates.
(a) To protect an employer from unwitting violation of the minimum age standards, it is provided in section 3(1)(2) of the Act that “oppressive child labor shall not be deemed to exist by virtue of the employment in any occupation of any person with respect to whom the employer shall have on file an unexpired certificate issued and held pursuant to regulations of the Secretary of Labor certifying that such person is above the oppressive child labor age.” An age certificate is a statement of a minor's age issued under regulations of the Secretary (Child Labor Regulation No. 1),31
31 Subpart A of this part.
(b) It should be noted that the age certificate furnishes protection to the employer as provided by the act only if it shows the minor to be above the minimum age applicable thereunder to the occupation in which he is employed. Thus, a State certificate which shows a minor's age to be above the minimum required by State law for the occupation in which he is employed does not protect his employer for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act unless the age shown on such certificate is also above the minimum provided under that act for such occupation.
Exemptions
§ 570.122 General.
Specific exemptions from the child labor requirements of the Act are provided for:
(a) Employment of children in agriculture outside of school hours for the school district where they live while so employed;
(b) Employment of employees engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the consumer;
(c) Employment of children as actors or performers in motion pictures or in theatrical, radio, or television productions; and
(d) Employment by a parent or a person standing in a parent's place of his own child or a child in his custody under the age of sixteen years in any occupation other than the following:
(1) Manufacturing,
(2) Mining,
(3) An occupation found by the Secretary to be particularly hazardous for the employment of children between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years or detrimental to their health or well-being.
In his interpretations of these provisions, the Secretary will be guided by the principle that such exemptions should be narrowly construed and their application limited to those employees who are plainly and unmistakably within their terms. Thus, the fact that a child's occupation involves the performance of work which is considered exempt from the child labor provisions will not relieve his employer from the requirements of section 12(c) or the producer, manufacturer, or dealer from the requirements of section 12(a) if, during the course of his employment, the child spends any part of his time doing work which is covered but not so exempt.
§ 570.123 Agriculture.
(a) Section 13(c) of the Act provides an exemption from the child labor provisions for “any employee employed in agriculture outside of school hours for the school district where such employee is living while he is so employed.” This is the only exemption from the child labor provisions relating to agriculture or the products of agriculture. The various agricultural exemptions provided by sections 7(b)(3), 7(c), 13(a)(6), 13(a)(10) and 13(b)(5) from all or part of the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements are not applicable to the child labor provisions. This exemption, it will be noted, is limited to periods outside of school hours in contrast to the complete exemption for employment in “agriculture” under the wage and hours provisions. Under the original act, the exemption became operative whenever the applicable State law did not require the minor to attend school. The legislative history clearly indicates that in amending this provision, Congress sought to establish a clearer and simpler test for permissive employment which could be applied without the necessity of exploring State legal requirements regarding school attendance in the particular State. It recognized that the original provision fell short of achieving the objective of permitting agricultural work only so long as it did not infringe upon the opportunity of children for education. By recasting the exemption on an “outside of school hours” basis, Congress intended to provide a test which could be more effectively applied toward carrying out this purpose.
(b) The applicability of the exemption to employment in agriculture as defined in section 3(f)32
32 Agriculture as defined in section 3(f) includes “farming in all its branches and among other things includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities (including commodities defined as agricultural commodities in section 15(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended), the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry, and any practices (including any forestry, or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market.”
(c) Attention is directed to the fact that by virtue of the parental exemption provided in section 3(1) of the Act, children under 16 years of age are permitted to work, for their parents on their parents' farms at any time provided they are not employed in a manufacturing or mining occupation.
(d) The orders (subpart E of this part) declaring certain occupations to be particularly hazardous for the employment of minors between 16 and 18 years of age or detrimental to their health or well-being do not apply to employment in agriculture, pending study as to the hazardous or detrimental nature of occupations in agriculture.33
33 See note to subpart E of this part.
[16 FR 7008, July 20, 1951, as amended at 23 FR 3062, May 8, 1958. Redesignated at 28 FR 1634, Feb. 21, 1963. Redesignated and amended at 36 FR 25156, Dec. 29, 1971]
§ 570.124 Delivery of newspapers.
Section 13(d) of the Act provides an exemption from the child labor as well as the wage and hours provisions for employees engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the consumer. This provision applies to carriers engaged in making deliveries to the homes of subscribers or other consumers of newspapers (including shopping news). It also includes employees engaged in the street sale or delivery of newspapers to the consumer. However, employees engaged in hauling newspapers to drop stations, distributing centers, newsstands, etc., do not come within the exemption because they do not deliver to the consumer.
§ 570.125 Actors and performers.
Section 13(c) of the Act provides an exemption from the child labor provisions for “any child employed as an actor or performer in motion pictures or theatrical productions, or in radio or television productions.” The term “performer” used in this provision is obviously more inclusive than the term “actor.” In regulations issued pursuant to section 7(d)(3) of the Act, the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division has defined a “performer” on radio and television programs for purposes of that section.34
34 Section 550.2(b) of this title provides:
(b) The term “performer” shall mean a person who performs a distinctive, personalized service as a part of an actual broadcast or telecast including an actor, singer, dancer, musician, comedian, or any person who entertains, affords amusement to, or occupies the interest of a radio or television audience by acting, singing, dancing, reading, narrating, performing feats of skill, or announcing, or describing or relating facts, events and other matters of interest, and who actively participates in such capacity in the actual presentation of a radio or television program. It shall not include such persons as script writers, stand-ins, or directors who are neither seen nor heard by the radio or television audience; nor shall it include persons who participate in the broadcast or telecast purely as technicians such as engineers, electricians and stage hands.
§ 570.126 Parental exemption.
By the parenthetical phrase included in section 3(l)(1) of the Act, a parent or a person standing in place of a parent may employ his own child or a child in his custody under the age of 16 years in any occupation other than the following: (a) Manufacturing; (b) mining; (c) an occupation found by the Secretary to be particularly hazardous or detrimental to health or well-being for children between the ages of 16 and 18 years. This exemption may apply only in those cases where the child is exclusively employed by his parent or a person standing in his parents' place. Thus, where a child assists his father in performing work for the latter's employer and the child is considered to be employed both by his father and his father's employer, the parental exemption would not be applicable. The words “parent” or a “person standing in place of a parent” include natural parents, or any other person, where the relationship between that person and a child is such that the person may be said to stand in place of a parent. For example, one who takes a child into his home and treats it as a member of his own family, educating and supporting the child as if it were his own, is generally said to stand to the child in place of a parent. It should further be noted that occupations found by the Secretary to be hazardous or detrimental to health or well-being for children between 16 and 18 years of age, as well as manufacturing and mining occupations, are specifically excluded from the scope of the exemption.
Enforcement
§ 570.127 General.
Section 15(a)(4) of the Act makes any violation of the provisions of sections 12(a) or 12(c) unlawful. Any such unlawful act or practice may be enjoined by the United States District Courts under section 17 upon court action, filed by the Secretary pursuant to section 12(b) and, if willful will subject the offender to the criminal penalties provided in section 16(a) of the Act.35
35 Section 16(a) provides:
Any person who willfully violates any of the provisions of section 15 shall upon conviction thereof be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000, or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. No person shall be imprisoned under this subsection except for an offense committed after the conviction of such person for a prior offense under this subsection.
§ 570.128 Good faith defense.
A provision is contained in section 12(a) of the Act relieving any purchaser from liability thereunder who ships or delivers for shipment in commerce goods which he acquired in good faith in reliance on written assurance from the producer, manufacturer, or dealer that the goods were produced in compliance with section 12, and which he acquired for value without notice of any violation.36
36 For a complete discussion of this subject see part 789 of this title, General Statement on the Provisions of section 12(a) and section 15(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended, relating to Written Assurances.
§ 570.129 Relation to other laws.
Section 18 provides, in part, that “no provision of this act relating to the employment of child labor shall justify noncompliance with any Federal or State law or municipal ordinance establishing a higher standard than the standard established under this act.” The child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended, must be complied with as to the employment of minors within their general coverage and not excepted from their operation by special provision of the act itself regardless of any State, local, or other Federal law that may be applicable to the same employment. Furthermore, any administrative action pursuant to other laws, such as the issuance of a work permit to a minor or the referral by an employment agency of a minor to an employer does not necessarily relieve a person of liability under this act. Where such other legislation is applicable and does not contravene the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, however, nothing in the act, the regulations or the interpretations announced by the Secretary should be taken to override or nullify the provisions of these laws. Although compliance with other applicable legislation does not constitute compliance with the act unless the requirements of the act are thereby met, compliance with the act, on the other hand, does not relieve any person of liability under other laws that establish higher child labor standards than those prescribed by or pursuant to the act. Moreover, such laws, if at all applicable, continue to apply to the employment of all minors who either are not within the general coverage of the child labor provisions of the act or who are specifically excepted from their requirements.
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