Legislature(2001 - 2002)
04/11/2002 01:37 PM Senate L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 128-APPROVAL FOR EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS
CHAIRMAN STEVENS announced HB 128 to be up for consideration.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said he was pinch-hitting for
Representative Scott Ogan, sponsor of HB 128. It lifts some of
the restrictions in statute regarding agricultural workers.
Currently, when a child 17 years of age seeks employment in this
state, they not only have to have the approval of their parents,
but they have to fill out an application that is transmitted to
the Department of Labor where it needs to be approved. It has to
be sent back to the employer before they can work. During the
summer months when most teen employment occurs, this can be a
slow process. If there are any questions with the application, it
could be set aside for additional time. Although this is kind of
an arbitrary requirement, in certain businesses there are
hazardous activities, which the Department of Labor has the
responsibility to make sure that worker is protected
(particularly under age workers). This bill provides for a pre-
approval process where an employer can request the Department of
Labor to come out and inspect the premises and prequalify job
categories. The Department has to do that now anyhow. This bill
is having them do it in advance. Then the parents can sign an
approval form that can be faxed to the employer so the child can
go to work on the same day.
2:10 pm
SENATOR LEMAN said the amendment benefits any employer from
farming, fishing to fast food restaurants. He asked if this also
applied to someone who wanted to hire someone who is under 17 to
fish, as well.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG replied that he thought it applied to any
job that the Department felt it needed to be involved in. That
could be clarified.
SENATOR LEMAN said he was trying to determine current law for a
child under 17 to work in a fishing operation.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said he would have to defer to the
Department to answer that.
MS. REBECCA NANCE-GAMEZ, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Labor
and Workforce Development, said she wanted to briefly touch on
the fiscal note, but Mr. Mostriano would address Senator Leman's
question. She said that they worked closely with the sponsor and
think they came up with a good product that would be mutually
beneficial to the Department and to the employers around the
state. The fiscal note is $22,500, which basically goes to Legal
Services, public notices and revising and reprinting posters and
pamphlets.
MR. MOSTRIANO, Director, Labor Standards and Safety, said that
those under the age of 17 can work in the fish industry with
certain restrictions. On a fishing boat a 17 year old can work on
the boat, but can't operate any of the hydraulic equipment or
things like that. They would approve a work permit for a child to
work as a cabin boy or deck hand of some sort. A 14 or 15 year
old wouldn't be able to do that, because it would be considered
hazardous.
SENATOR LEMAN said he has pictures of his family out on a boat
and asked if there were exceptions for family operations.
MR. MOSTRIANO replied that there are. If you are a family-owned
business, they do not require a work permit nor any approval from
the Department. If you owned a bar, they would not have problems
with them having their child in the bar.
SENATOR LEMAN asked if someone outside the family who was under
16 could do that.
MR. MOSTRIANO replied that they wouldn't be allowed to do that
because it is considered hazardous under the U.S. Department of
Labor.
SENATOR LEMAN said there were a lot of kids working in the
Bristol Bay fisheries and in Kodiak, etc. He asked if they are
working illegally.
MR. MOSTRIANO replied yes.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked what the penalties are.
MR. MOSTRIANO replied that there is no penalty under our law, but
it's a federal law and he didn't know what the penalty was. It
depends on how many times it happens. The state has a Memorandum
of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Labor that if we
find a child working under hazardous situations, they are
required to report that and they would go out and investigate.
Sometimes the fines are $3,000 or more.
SENATOR AUSTERMAN said that fiscal note analysis says the bill
removes the preapproval requirements and yet they just heard
testimony to the effect that it will make the preapproval
requirements work better. He asked what changed.
MS. GAMEZ replied that it changes the preapproval requirements.
In current law you would have to get preapproval before the child
can go to work. Under the new law, an employer can approve an
entire job class as opposed to the individual minor. She agreed
that the language is confusing.
SENATOR AUSTERMAN asked if the bill removes the preapproval
requirement.
MS. GAMEZ replied that it removes the preapproval requirement per
individual and replaces it with classes of employment instead.
For instance, if a farmer in the Mat-Su Valley wanted to hire
some kids who are 16 to harvest produce, under the new law, they
could fax a letter to Mr. Mastriano saying they were going to
hire 15 kids and this was the type of work they would do prior to
the harvest time.
MR. MASTRIANO explained they would tell the employer that this
job is safe for a 14 or 15 year old or whatever and keep the
employer out of harms way of having a hazardous order situation
where they could get penalized by the U.S. Department of Labor.
His department would review the job and the equipment the
prospective employees would be asked to use and any chemicals and
tell the employer what age would be allowed to work that job.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if an employer has to state the number of
individuals he is going to hire under that approval.
MR. MASTRIANO replied that that was not quantified.
The thought was if you said we had a job to do burgers
at McDonalds, we wouldn't care how many people. We
would say that job could be done by a 14, 15, 16 or 17
year old. When we got the work permit, then we would
know who would in fact - and you would have up to seven
days according to the new law to submit the work
permit.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if these reviews had to be done annually.
MR. MASTRIANO replied that they wouldn't do that unless the job
conditions change and then they would rely on the employer to
tell them that. The work permits themselves are good for a year.
If a child went to work at McDonalds at the age of 14, they could
work until their 17th birthday and not have to have their work
permit changed, because none of the job duties have changed.
"This is a little more restrictive."
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked why an annual renewal was recommended.
MR. MASTRIANO said that was worked out in committee.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said that whole section was put in in
committee.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS said he thought it was good policy to give them
scope with the job permit, but it seems onerous for the employer
to have an inspection every year.
MR. MASTRIANO responded that it would be up to the individual
minor to get a new work permit yearly - not the employer.
SENATOR LEMAN asked about a 16 year old kid who wants to mow your
lawn.
MR. MASTRIANO replied:
At your house it's fine, but if they come to your
business to mow your lawn, the Department would
probably consider them an independent contractor, which
means that they're exempt from the law. However, if you
hire a 13 year old that cuts his Dad's lawn every day
or every other day and you hire him to cut your lawn as
part of your business, he has to be at least 16 years
of age to do that.
SENATOR LEMAN commented that maybe this bill doesn't go quite far
enough and they've exposed some things that may need further
revision. "One thing I firmly believe is that we need to keep
younger people busy and in the summer especially. The phrase,
'Idleness is the devil's workshop…'
MR. MASTRIANO said one of the things they have always tried to do
is work with the employers and the kids.
TAPE 02-20, SIDE B
MR. MASTRIANO continued saying that in today's economy there are
a lot of kids who really need to work.
It's our job to get them out into the workforce. It's
also our job to protect them and that's the issue that
I have to enforce on my folks…We don't want to put a
child in a case where they're going to be injured or
possibly killed. We have had two fatalities this year -
15 year olds working for their parents and that was one
of the concerns that I expressed to Representative
Rokeberg - is that parents don't always know what the
hazardous [indisc.] are. So we would like to at least
review some of the jobs that their kids are going to be
working at, not necessarily for their parents, but in
other industries. I agree that anything we can do to
get kids out off the streets and productive workers,
I'm in favor of that.
SENATOR LEMAN said he was glad to hear that and moved to pass
CSHB 128(L&C)(efd add) out of committee with individual
recommendations and the attached fiscal note. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
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