U.S. Child Labor Laws in Agriculture

U.S. Child Labor Laws in Agriculture

Created by: Shannon Campbell

December 17, 2012

“Child labor laws do not apply to agriculture”

As I was reading Chapter 7 of “Going Global”, I was confused when reading the above quote in that I did not know the laws behind child labor when working in agriculture in the United States. When doing further research through the United States Department of Labor website, I looked over the rules and regulations regarding this issue, and found out a lot more that I intended to.

Quite frankly I was shocked when reading about the laws that cover children working in agriculture here in the United States. A child can work on any farm, legally, starting at age 12 with parental permission. However, I am sure parents or farm-owners do sometimes force their children to work at even younger ages when needed. Statistics from Human Rights Watch state that children can work up to 14 hour days, and do not even receive as much as minimum wage. Currently, there is a bill in congress to help push the The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment. A video, created by Human Rights Watch, which can be found here, shows a great “behind the scenes” representation of the facts and statistics of what I just mentioned, as well as information about the bill in congress.

According to Human Rights Watch,  The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment includes the following:

• Apply the same age and hour requirements to children working in agriculture that already apply to all other working children, including raising the minimum age for hazardous work from 16 to 18;

• Preserve the family farm exception that excuses children working on their parents’ farms from the child labor law;

• Increase fines for child labor violations to $15,000 from $11,000;

• Strengthen provisions regarding children’s exposure to pesticides;

• Require better data collection from the Department of Labor.

Although important issues that are covered in Chapter 7 are mentioned such as human trafficking, it is important to look at true domestic issues like the one that I have just mentioned. What is produced by these children are daily things we consume, and possibly wear, everyday. What are your stances? Do you think it is up to the family to control what their children do? Should this bill be passed by congress?