Posted on 03/15/2012 11:43:25 AM PDT by pabianice
I haven't seen this posted or discussed on FR before. I was alerted to it by Glenn Beck's morning program. According to Beck, the Government is implementing this without any public or Congressional discussion. "For the Children."
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Proposes Changes to Child Labor Rules on Farms
The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed new child labor regulations applicable to agriculture. The DOLs stated purpose for the rule making is to improve the safety of minors under 18 working in both agricultural and nonagricultural jobs. The proposed rule changes would place new limits on the work hired farm workers under 16 and 18 would be allowed to do and could impact horse farms, ranches and auctions that employ young people who work with horses. The proposed new rules would not apply to children working on farms and ranches owned or operated by their parents or change the statutory child labor parental exemption in agricultural employment contained in the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA).
Currently, young people under 16 are prohibited from working in most occupations. However, the FLSA, which established American child labor laws, includes an exemption for agriculture that allows children under 16 to work on farms and ranches. This is because of the unique family nature of agriculture and the important role young people often play on farms and ranches.
Proposed Rule
There are several proposed changes that could impact the horse community. The proposed new rules would:
Prohibit employed workers under 18 from working with horses in feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and auctions.
Exclude employed workers under 16 from working in a yard, pen or stall occupied by a non-castrated male horse maintained for breeding purposes; porcine, bovine, or bison older than six months; or engaging in or assisting in branding, breeding, dehorning, vaccinating, castrating livestock, or treating sick or injured animals including horses.
Prohibit workers under 16 from herding livestock from horseback or on a motorized vehicle or on foot in confined spaces such as pens or corrals. The DOL noted that this provision would apply only to the herding of livestock on horseback, not any other kind of work performed on horseback.
Currently, workers under 16 are prohibited from operating specific farm equipment, such as tractors with more than 20 PTO horsepower, corn pickers, cotton pickers, combines, hay mowers, forge harvesters, etc. with exemptions for workers with certificates from vocational programs such as 4-H. The proposed rule would bar workers under 16 from operating any tractors or essentially any equipment not hand-powered including equipment such as lawn mowers and milking machines. It would also sharply limit the exemptions to such rules for workers with training certificates or in vocational programs, such as 4-H.
The proposed rules apply only to hired, paid young workers and retain the parental exemption that exempts children working on farms and ranches owned or operated by their parents. However, there appears to be a question regarding whether the rule as proposed maintains the parental exemption for children working on farms and ranches owned as partnerships, even with other family members, such as grandparents, or bothers and sisters, or operated as LLCs.
Status
In December 2012 the AHC submitted comments in opposition to the proposed child labor regulations. The comment period for this rule is now closed. The DOL is currently reviewing all submitted comments and is expected to issue a final rule sometime before this summer.
AHC Position
The AHC opposes this rule as currently written.
The AHC appreciates the stated goal of the DOL to improve safety for young Americans working in agriculture. However, the AHC wants to be sure that any final rules are not unnecessarily restrictive and do not bar young people from working in agriculture with horses, especially on the family farm, at a time when many young people are leaving agriculture. The final rules must consider the reality and traditions of agriculture, the unique roll that young people play on family-owned farms and ranches, and the reality that many of these farms and ranches are owned by multiple generations or operated as LLCs.
Government just passing laws against citizens.
Wonder when he will outlaw hunting the Kings deer.
Mangled Headline Syntax alert. I thought it was about Mexicans at first.
I saw a “news story” about how children injured on farms wrack up about 1.4 billion dollars in medical care costs per year. When I saw that story, I thought: “Hmmm, strange. I bet Obama is trying to regulate, tax, or destroy the rural tradition of kids working farms.” I grew up near many farms. picked berries on a berry farm, most of my school mates milked before and after school, etc.
This administration hates the military and rural Americans.
Technically, it’s not about Mexicans, but the end result will be more job opportunities for illegal aliens as farmers find that their family members are not allowed to do the work.
Can’t work on a farm but they can be gang bangers, shoot people and sell dope as young as nine. All our kids are being pampered to death by society and government. Asinine.
Next up: Allowing SEIU to organize “chore workers”
That headline is a contorted as a boa constrictor in a cage full of rats................
I get the feeling this will be widely ignored.
Where I grew up you could make pretty good money during summer vacation bailing hay. It was hard work. We loved it.
So, who said it had to be called “working.” Why not call it volunteering or doing it as a hobby, or form new kinds of scouting organizations, i.e. the “Horse Scouts.” There’s always a way to get around something so obviously stupid as this!
There are already some pretty burdensome restrictions on it already.
During haying, we were paid $2/hour and fed lunch by the farmer. The minimum wage at that time was $1.15 if working in gas station or super market.
Better they turn out like the pansy-a$$ed little worm seen in the background:
So did I. I think the person who wrote that sentance is functionally illiterate.
My congressman (Tim Walberg) has made OSHA one of his primary targets. He says they’ve become nothing more than another fine collection agency. Every time a company manages to achieve compliance with OSHA rules, OSHA comes up with another set of rules.
Some BS going on here, the headline says family farms, as in kids working on their parents property, but the articles says it applies to hired help.? Makes no difference, you can run an ad asking for farm workers, no one speaking english will show up.
Had this law been in effect when I was a youngster, I would have gone to school in rags as my new school clothes came from those earnings not to mention the money that went into the family coffers as I contributed toward my room and board when I had an income from this type of work.
I wouldn't have been able to take my girlfriend (now, my wife of almost 50 years) to the prom...I could have ended up with a different wife...I might have ended up with a grandson with a dog collar.
16 are prohibited from operating specific farm equipment, such as tractors with more than 20 PTO horsepower...
Someone obviously has no clue about the equipment required to efficiently work the land...20 HP PTO's are in the compact tractor category...
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