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Farm Events: |
Farm News: Department of Labor Holds Off on Child Labor Rules for Farm KidscommentsPosted: 02.02.2012 The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division today announced that it will re-propose the portion of its regulation on child labor in agriculture interpreting the "parental exemption.” The public, especially farming and ranching communities, criticized the farm labor rules proposed in Sept. 2011 that would have prevented many young people from working on family farms. Farm groups hailed the move, which resulted in part from pressure brought by lawmakers, farmers and agricultural organizations. With the final regulations in limbo, the Labor Department said the parental exemption will apply to children whose parents are partial owners in a farm, partners in a farm ownership or officers in a corporation that owns a farm, so long as the ownership interest is substantial.
Paul Zimmerman, Executive Director of Governmental Relations for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation said “the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation is very pleased that the federal Department of Labor has heard the concerns of farm families to have their children and relatives work on their farms. The Labor Department’s decision to re-propose the ‘parental exemption’ in the child labor rule is a positive step, but it does not resolve the long list of concerns that our organization has with the entire rule package.
Wisconsin’s farming heritage is built upon extended family members working together on farms. Nobody is more interested in assuring the safety of youth on farms than farm families.
We remain hopeful that comments from parents and farmers will result in a common-sense rule that respects the importance than youth play on family farms. In the coming months the Wisconsin Farm Bureau will work to inform its members of to re-submit comments to the Department of Labor.”
Today’s announcement to re-propose the parental exemption arrives a day before the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade meets for a hearing entitled The Future of the Family Farm: The Effect of Proposed DOL Regulations on Small Business Producers. The hearing will examine the Department’s revisions to regulations pertaining to the employment of youths on farming and ranching operations.
“After much pressure from Congress and producers, DOL has finally acknowledged serious flaws with the parental exemption part of their regulation,” said Subcommittee Chairman Scott Tipton (R-Colo.). “However, this is only half a victory. There remains great concern about other parts of the rule pertaining to youth access to safety training programs and on-farm education and employment opportunities. I believe, as the majority of American farmers do, that this rule altogether should never have been proposed.”
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