Cyndi's Two Cents

Child labor law could change rural America forever

It’s been almost 4 decades since any changes have been made to the child labor regulations for agriculture in this country. After digging into the proposed rules and implications of those rules, it appears the Department of Labor is making up for lost time.

We can all agree that agriculture is a dangerous industry, and the premise behind proposed changes is to protect youth working in dangerous environments. However, this complete overhaul of regulations will change much about how we live and work in our rural communities.

Under current law, you must be 16 years old to work in a pen or a yard with an intact male of any species of farm animal. There are also restrictions about working with nursing sows and cows. Proposed regulations would add to these restrictions, preventing anyone under 16 from assisting or engaging in any activity with livestock that could inflict pain upon the animal or cause an unpredictable animal behavior. According to Dee Jepsen, State Extension safety leader at the Ohio State University, that includes branding, breeding, vaccinating, dehorning or treating a sick or injured animal.

Proposed regulations would prevent anyone under 16 from herding animals on horseback or on an ATV. You would have to be 18 to work in a livestock auction or exchange.

So, in essence, unless you are 16, you won’t be allowed to work with or around livestock. Period.

Under current law, you must be 16 to operate a tractor rated over 20 horsepower unless you are 14 or 15 years old and have completed the 20-hour course offered by Cooperative Extension, Farm Bureau, or through an agriculture class at school.

The proposed regulation would prevent those under 16 from operating a tractor of any horsepower, which would include lawn and garden tractors, and require a 14 or 15 year to participate in a semester course on tractor safety in an agricultural education program to operate any tractor.

How many rural communities have been forced by economics to eliminate their high school ag program? What happens in those areas?

Forget about the 13- year old mowing the church yard, helping make hay, milk cows or clearing fence rows (they can’t use power driven saws or tools.) If they are not 16, they would not be allowed to do these things even without pay because they are providing an economic service that is of value to the farm, which is a violation of the child labor law.

Family farms do remain exempt from these new regulations, so if you want your son or daughter to help make hay, they don’t have to be 16. However, if you incorporated your farm with a brother or sister or parent and your farm is an LLC – the son or daughter must be working for the parent, not the uncle or grandparent – or that young person would be working for a corporation.

The new provision would not allow anyone under the age of 18 to work in a country grain elevator.

We can’t let this happen! Spread the word and go to this website today to learn more and to leave a comment:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=WHD-2011-0001-0001

If you don’t have access to the internet, go to your local library and ask for assistance in getting online. The public comment period ends November 1. If we fail to make enough noise about this proposal, we’ll all be living with these new rules in 2012.