[ 14 states have now introduced bills putting children at risk]
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IOWA GOVERNOR SIGNS ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS ROLLBACKS OF CHILD
LABOR LAWS IN THE COUNTRY  
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Jennifer Sherer and Nina Mast
May 31, 2023
Economic Policy Institute
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_ 14 states have now introduced bills putting children at risk _

,

 

In a March 14 report
[[link removed]], we
documented how states across the country are attempting to weaken
child labor protections, just as violations of these standards are on
the rise. The trend reflects a coordinated multi-industry push to
expand employer access to low-wage labor and weaken state child labor
laws in ways that contradict federal protections. And the recent
uptick in state legislative activity is linked to longer-term
industry-backed goals to rewrite federal child labor laws and other
worker protections for the whole country.

Last Friday, this concerted attack on child labor safeguards further
expanded. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed an expansive bill
[[link removed]] enacting
numerous changes to the state’s child labor laws, including:

* allowing employers to hire teens as young as 14 for previously
prohibited hazardous jobs in industrial laundries or as young as 15 in
light assembly work;
* allowing state agencies to waive restrictions on hazardous work
for 16–17-year-olds in a long list of dangerous occupations,
including demolition, roofing, excavation, and power-driven machine
operation;
* extending hours to allow teens as young as 14 to work six-hour
nightly shifts during the school year;
* allowing restaurants to have teens as young as 16 serve alcohol;
and
* limiting state agencies’ ability to impose penalties for future
employer violations.

Multiple provisions in the new state law conflict with federal Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA) prohibitions on “oppressive child
labor”
[[link removed]] involving
hazardous conditions or excessive hours that interfere with teens’
schooling or health and well-being.

In Arkansas, Governor Sarah Sanders signed a law
[[link removed]] in
March that eliminated youth work permits. Under the law, 14- and
15-year-olds will no longer need an employment certificate from the
state Division of Labor verifying proof of their age and parental
consent to work.

At a moment when exploitative child labor is on the rise,
such changes are dangerous
[[link removed]],
removing an important paper trail intended to provide “proof that
the companies that hire children at least acknowledge—in
writing—that they’re following the law.”

In intervening weeks, the U.S. Department of Labor has cited employers
for hundreds more serious child labor violations
[[link removed]], while
additional state legislatures have advanced proposals to weaken child
labor standards.

This post provides updated analysis of state child labor legislation
enacted or proposed so far in 2023.

IOWA’S EXTREME NEW CHILD LABOR LAW VIOLATES FEDERAL PROHIBITIONS ON
HAZARDOUS OCCUPATIONS AND EXCESSIVE WORK HOURS

Iowa labor unions and their allies organized significant opposition
[[link removed]] to
weakening the state’s child labor laws, compelling lawmakers
to remove
[[link removed]] some
of the original bill’s most egregious proposals—including language
allowing teens to work in some areas of meatpacking plants and
granting employers blanket immunity from liability for deaths or
injuries caused by negligence while employing teens in “work-based
learning programs.”

Yet even after several amendments, the final bill
[[link removed]] (passed
with only Republican support
[[link removed]])
remains one of the most dangerous rollbacks of child labor protections
in decades.

Many aspects of the newly enacted Iowa law contradict federal child
labor law. In a May 10 letter
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Iowa lawmakers, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Solicitor of Labor
Seema Nanda and Wage and Hour Division Principal Deputy Administrator
Jessica Looman clarify that “the FLSA establishes federal standards
with respect to child labor, and states cannot nullify federal
requirements by enacting less protective standards.”

Because most employment situations are covered by the FLSA
[[link removed]],
employers who follow weaker new state rules in Iowa will be violating
federal child labor law. Enforcing federal standards that the state no
longer maintains will, however, now be solely up to the federal
government.

In their letter, Nanda and Looman report that “the Department
currently has over 600 child labor investigations underway nationwide,
including in Iowa” and detail the ways in which Iowa’s proposed
bill (most of which has now been enacted) contradicts prohibitions on
hazardous work or excessive work hours considered “oppressive”
forms of child labor under federal law.

Federal law generally prohibits the employment of children in
hazardous occupations. The new Iowa law allows several forms of
hazardous child labor that are expressly prohibited under DOL
regulations on work permitted for 14–15-year-olds or are banned for
all youth under 18 under “Hazardous Occupations Orders” (HOs)
[[link removed]].
These are specific types of work the DOL prohibits based on National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health findings that certain
jobs have proven particularly dangerous for teens.

TABLE 1 summarizes the areas in which the new Iowa state law
contradicts federal laws designed to prevent hazardous child labor.

TABLE 1

Iowa’s new law removes state prohibition on hazardous child labor,
directly contradicting federal law

PREVIOUSLY PROHIBITED HAZARDOUS WORK
FEDERAL STANDARD (AND PREVIOUS IOWA STATE STANDARD)
AGE AT WHICH NEW IOWA LAW ALLOWS HAZARDOUS WORK

Laundering using machines with capacity of 10 or more cubic feet or
designed to reach internal temperatures over 212 degrees Fahrenheit
Not permitted for 14 or 15-year-olds (29 CFR 570.34
[[link removed](k)])
14

Loading and unloading equipment into motor vehicles including:

* Equipment or retail items weighing up to 30–50 lbs.
* Power-driven lawn machines

Prohibited as hazardous if under 16 (29 CFR 570.33(k) and 570.34(k)
[[link removed](k)])
15, with a waiver from state agency

Light assembly work
Prohibited as hazardous if under 16 (29 CFR 570.33
[[link removed](k)])
15, with a waiver from state agency

Light assembly work in or about facilities manufacturing or storing
explosives or articles containing explosive elements
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 1
[[link removed]])
16

Commercial motor vehicle driver and helper
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 2
[[link removed]])
16

PREVIOUSLY PROHIBITED HAZARDOUS WORK ALLOWED IN NEW IOWA LAW IF
APPROVED AS A “WORK-BASED LEARNING” OR “SCHOOL OR
EMPLOYER-ADMINISTERED, WORK-RELATED PROGRAM” AT THE DISCRETION OF
STATE AGENCIES
FEDERAL STANDARD (AND PREVIOUS IOWA STATE STANDARD)
AGE AT WHICH NEW IOWA LAW ALLOWS HAZARDOUS WORK

Operation of power-driven woodworking machines
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 5
[[link removed]])*
16, if approved by state agency

Operation of elevators and other power-driven hoisting apparatus
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 7
[[link removed]])
16, if approved by state agency

Operation of power-driven metal forming, punching, and shearing
machines
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 8
[[link removed]])*
16, if approved by state agency

Operation of power-driven bakery machines
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 11
[[link removed]])
16, if approved by state agency

Operation of power-driven paper products machines (e.g., balers and
compactors)
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 12
[[link removed]])*†
16, if approved by state agency

Manufacturing of brick, tile, and related products
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 13
[[link removed]])
16, if approved by state agency

Operation of circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 14
[[link removed]])*
16, if approved by state agency

Wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking operations
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 15
[[link removed]])
16, if approved by state agency

Roofing operations
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 16
[[link removed]])*
16, if approved by state agency

Excavation
Prohibited as hazardous if under 18 (HO 17
[[link removed]])*
16, if approved by state agency

NOTES: *Federal law allows 16–17-year-olds to perform certain types
of intermittent work in these occupations only when enrolled in a bona
fide registered apprenticeship program meeting certain stringent
standards: 29 CFR 570.50(b)
[[link removed]]

†Federal law allows 16–17-year-olds to load (but not operate or
unload) balers only if certain specific safety requirements are
met: DOL Wage and Hour Division Fact Sheet #57
[[link removed]]

SOURCE: EPI analysis of state and federal child labor laws.

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As summarized in Table 1, the new Iowa law permits employers to assign
16–17-year-olds to especially hazardous jobs as part of so-called
“work-based learning” or “school or employer-administered,
work-related programs” if approved by the Iowa Workforce Development
or the Iowa Department of Education.

While DOL regulations provide some limited exceptions to certain
hazardous occupations orders for apprentices and student learners who
are ages 16 and over, the DOL’s recent letter makes clear that “to
the extent that the ‘work-based learning’ program in the proposed
legislation does not meet the requirements of the [DOL’s]
regulations as described, the program would be prohibited by federal
law for employers or children covered by the FLSA.” The ill-defined
category of “work-based learning” in Iowa’s new law does not
comply with the apprenticeship standards or oversight required to
qualify for exceptions under federal law, which require that “the
child must be enrolled in an approved program” (29 CFR 570.50) for
which the state agency has been “granted approval by the [DOL]”
for proposed exceptions (29 CFR 570.36, 29 CFR 570.37).

Lastly, the Iowa law allows for six-hour nightly shifts for
14–15-year-olds during the school year, exceeding limits under FLSA.
The May 10 U.S. DOL letter
[[link removed]] confirms
that the new Iowa law’s changes to hours allowed for teen work
contradict federal law in two ways:

* “First, 14- and 15-year-olds covered by the FLSA may only work
between 7 am and 7 pm and only outside of school hours during the
school year and may work from 7 am to 9 pm between June 1 and Labor
Day.”
* “Second, 14- and 15-year-olds may work no more than 3 hours on a
school day, no more than 8 hours on a non-school day, no more than 18
hours/week during a week when school is in session, and for no more
than 40 hours/week when school is not in session. To the extent that
the proposed legislation allows 14- and 15-year-olds covered by the
FLSA towork beyond or in excess of these permitted hours, the
legislation would be inconsistent with theDepartment’s
regulations.”

The Iowa law also places new limits on future state enforcement of
child labor law, eliminating current state agency authority to require
work permits for some teen jobs, mandating that state enforcers
provide a 15-day grace period before imposing any civil penalty for
employer violations of child labor law, and codifying that any such
penalties may be waived or reduced at the discretion of the Director
of Iowa Workforce Development.

THE NUMBER OF STATES INTRODUCING BILLS TO ROLL BACK CHILD LABOR
PROTECTIONS CONTINUES TO CLIMB

In the past two years, at least 14 states have introduced bills to
erode child labor standards (11 states introduced bills in 2023
alone). Eight have been signed into law so far. TABLE 2 provides a
summary of state child labor legislation, updated to reflect recent
legislative activity and additional bills identified after the
publication of our March report
[[link removed]].

TABLE 2

In the past two years, at least 14 states have introduced or passed
laws rolling back child labor protectionsState child labor legislation
activity, 2021–2023

Bill
Bill details
Status
Year
Industry supporters

Arkansas
 
 
 
 

HB 1410
[[link removed]]
Eliminates age verification and parent/guardian permission
requirements
Enacted
2023
Opportunity Solutions Project (Foundation for Government
Accountability)

Georgia
 
 
 
 

HB 501 [[link removed]]
Eliminates work certificate requirement; lowers age for work in
landscaping
Introduced; withdrawn
2023
 

Iowa
 
 
 
 

SF 542
[[link removed]] (formerly
SF 167)
Lifts restrictions on hazardous work; lowers age for alcohol service;
extends work hours
Enacted
2023
Americans for Prosperity; Fareway Stores, Inc.; Home Builders
Association of Iowa; Iowa National Federation of Independent Business
(NFIB); Iowa Farm Equipment Dealers Association; Iowa Association of
Business and Industry (ABI); Iowa Hotel and Lodging Association; Iowa
Restaurant Association; Iowa Travel Industry Partners; Opportunity
Solutions Project (Foundation for Government Accountability)

HF 2198
[[link removed]]
Lowers minimum age of child care workers; increases staff-to-child
ratios
Enacted
2022
Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce

Maine
 
 
 
 

LD 1332
[[link removed]]
Subminimum wage for youth
Introduced
2023
 

LD 559
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Extends work hours for some home-schooled youth during school year
Introduced
2023
Maine Tourism Association; Maine Chamber of Commerce

Michigan
 
 
 
 

HB 5696
[[link removed]] and HB
5726
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Lowers age to work at liquor stores
Enacted
2022
 

HB 4232
[[link removed](S(obwstfe2perx51exnlrqikdj))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=2021-HB-4232]
Lowers age to serve alcohol
Enacted
2022
 

Minnesota
 
 
 
 

SF 375
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Lifts restrictions on hazardous work
Introduced
2023
 

SF 1102
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Extends work hours
Introduced
2023
 

Missouri
 
 
 
 

SB 175
[[link removed]]
Eliminates work certificate requirement for 16–17 year-olds
Introduced
2023
Opportunity Solutions Project (Foundation for Government
Accountability)

HB 188
[[link removed]]
Includes amendment (formerly HB 960
[[link removed]]) to
extend work hours
Passed in the House
2023
Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council

Nebraska
 
 
 
 

LB 15
[[link removed]]
Subminimum wage for youth
Introduced
2023
 

New Hampshire
 
 
 
 

SB 345
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Lowers age to bus tables where alcohol is served; extends work hours
Enacted
2022
New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association; New Hampshire Liquor
Commission

New Jersey
 
 
 
 

A4222 [[link removed]]
Extends work hours; increases time before break
Enacted
2022
New Jersey Chamber of Commerce; New Jersey Business and Industry
Association

Ohio
 
 
 
 

SB 30 [[link removed]]
Extends work hours
Passed in the Senate
2023
Americans for Prosperity; Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce; Ohio
NFIB; Ohio Restaurant Association

South Dakota
 
 
 
 

HB 1180 [[link removed]]
Extends work hours
Introduced; withdrawn
2023
 

Virginia
 
 
 
 

HB 1669
[[link removed]]
Subminimum wage for youth
Introduced; failed in the House
2023
 

Wisconsin
 
 
 
 

SB 332 [[link removed]]
Extends work hours
Passed in the House and Senate; vetoed by the governor
2021–2022
Wisconsin Grocers Association; Wisconsin Independent Businesses, Inc.;
Wisconsin NFIB; Association of Wisconsin Tourism Attractions;
Wisconsin Hotel and Lodging Association

AB 286
[[link removed]]
Lowers age to serve alcohol
Introduced
2023
 

SOURCE: EPI analysis of state legislative activity and news related
to child labor legislation.

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STATE CHILD LABOR LAW CHANGES ARE PART OF A BROADER, TROUBLING AGENDA
TO BOOST CORPORATE PROFITS AND INCREASE ECONOMIC DESPERATION OF
LOW-INCOME FAMILIES AND CHILDREN

As documented in our earlier report
[[link removed]],
multiple business and industry lobby groups continue to support
rolling back child labor laws in the interest of maintaining or
expanding access to low-wage labor. Recent reporting
[[link removed]] has
further emphasized the role of right-wing think tank Foundation for
Government Accountability (FGA) and its lobbying arm Opportunity
Solutions Project in using funding from billionaire donors to
accelerate state legislative action on child labor laws in 2023.

Dismantling child labor laws is just one prong of a broad agenda
promoted by groups like FGA to: weaken and eventually demolish the
role of government and public institutions (including public schools);
reduce and privatize the provision of public services; and suppress
the democratic process.

While FGA lobbies for the erosion of child labor protections in states
like Arkansas, Iowa, and Missouri, they are simultaneously working
to limit access to anti-poverty programs
[[link removed]] like
SNAP and Medicaid, block expansion of Medicaid eligibility,
and promote
[[link removed]] the
defunding of public education through expansion of school vouchers
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the same states. Taken together, FGA’s priorities represent a
radical, multilayered assault on the same low-income families whose
economically desperate children are most vulnerable to recruitment by
unscrupulous employers for jobs involving long hours, low wages, and
hazardous conditions that harm their education, health, and
well-being.

As child labor violations continue to rise, there remains much for
state and federal policymakers to do to strengthen the enforcement of
existing laws and reform weak, outdated laws. They should start by
eliminating the long-standing two-tiered system that exempts
agricultural employers from most child labor laws and continues to
allow widespread hazardous, low-wage labor for youth in agriculture,
[[link removed]] and
by removing the legal options allowing employers to pay youth
subminimum wages
[[link removed]].

Teens in Virginia
[[link removed]],
for example, recently helped lead a successful campaign to block
proposed legislation to allow employers to pay workers younger than 18
three dollars _less_ than the state’s current minimum wage. 

Growing national attention to exploitative child labor this year has
spurred some positive developments, including the introduction of
several federal bills focused primarily on increasing penalties
[[link removed]] for
violations. Federal agencies have also committed additional resources
[[link removed]] to
coordinating enforcement and monitoring the sponsorship of
unaccompanied migrant youth who may be vulnerable to employment in
violation of child labor laws.

As states like Arkansas and Iowa weaken state-level protections and
leave a greater share of enforcement up to federal agencies and
workers themselves, addressing the child labor crisis will require
nothing less than fully funding the Department of Labor, fixing our
broken immigration system, and empowering workers of all ages to form
unions.

_Jennifer Sherer is senior state policy coordinator for the Economic
Analysis and Research Network (EARN) Worker Power Project. Her work
focuses on expanding the ability of working people to achieve racial,
gender, and economic justice through organizing, collective
bargaining, and public policies that promote worker voice._

_Nina Mast is an economic analyst for the Economic Analysis and
Research Network (EARN) at EPI. Mast is a recent graduate of the
Master of Public Policy program at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School,
where she served as a researcher for the UC Berkeley Labor Center and
represented academic student employees as a union steward with
UAW-2865._

* child labor
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* expoitation
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* Labor Law
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* Iowa
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