Federal and state legislation that protects children by restricting the type and hours of work they perform.
The specific purpose of child labor laws is to safeguard children against a risk of injury generally associated with child labor, such as exposure to hazardous, unsanitary, or immoral conditions, and overwork. Child labor legislation primarily applies to business enterprises, but in some states nonprofit activities are within the purview of the law.
Specific provisions of the particular child labor law govern the age of majority. Some laws permit minors to be employed in certain activities if their parents satisfy stated conditions concerning supervision, control, and approval. The state has the right to prohibit parents from binding a minor to an employment contract based upon the theory that parents cannot diminish benefits that the law confers to children.
Cursory directions to subordinates are not sufficient to fulfill the employer's duty to enforce child labor regulations. Where such directives are followed by further violations, sterner measures controlling the actions of subordinates are required.
In some states, it is unlawful to employ children under a specified age in certain activities without an employment certificate issued and filed in accordance with the law. An employer's failure to comply with this requirement makes the employment illegal. Technical errors, such as the lack of a detailed account of the child's duties in the employer's pledge of employment, will not have this effect nor invalidate the certificate.
Children are protected by various regulations, such as those that forbid or limit their employment if they are under a specific age, in particular occupations, or in occupations other than those designated. Other regulations govern employment in particular businesses or under certain conditions or after certain hours or when school is in session.
Regulations also relate to occupations that are or may be potentially dangerous, extremely hazardous, or harmful to a child's health or morals, as defined by statute or judicial decision. In one state a log-loading machine was held to be within the meaning of a law that barred the employment of minors in businesses using dangerous machinery.
The violation of child labor regulations can subject the perpetrator to criminal prosecution or render the employment contract illegal. In appropriate circumstances an injunction, a court order that commands or prohibits a certain act, may be issued against a violator to stop the illegal conduct.
Liability for these violations depends upon the provisions of law. As a general rule, the owner of the business is liable, whether it is a natural person, a corporation, or a joint association. An employer is usually not liable if a minor is assigned to work on the premises in violation of law by an independent contractor, a person whose work methods are not controlled by the employer. Some states, however, will impose liability on the owner under such circumstances.
The employer's knowledge that the child is within the prohibited age is not an element of the offense. The offense is committed if the employer does not know but should have known by the exercise of reasonable diligence that the child was underage. The employer's good faith — his honest belief — is no defense even though the child misrepresented his age.
A person who hires a child in violation of law will be liable if the child is injured. The duration of the employment and the status of the child as an employee are irrelevant.
The parents will not be held liable merely because they assented to the hiring of their child by another. Only the injured child will recover damages, reparations for injury caused by another, for third persons are not within the class of persons that the laws were enacted to protect.
See: Labor Law; Parent and Child.
