DES MOINES, IOWA (April 25, 2023) — The Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, has released the following statement from President Charlie Wishman, along with a detailed analysis of amended child labor legislation (SF542) passed last week by the Iowa Senate:
“Child labor legislation passed last week by Iowa Senate Republicans is every parent’s worst nightmare. SF542 is the latest version of extreme legislation backed by corporate lobbyists to overturn longstanding protections against hazardous or exploitative forms of child labor in Iowa. In recent weeks, bill sponsors have refused to speak to press about details of the legislation, and last week, floor managers of the Senate bill refused to answer any questions when bringing it to a vote. The Iowa public deserves to know the full truth about this legislation, the intent behind it, and the threats it poses.
Careful analysis of the many often confusing changes included in SF542 show the bill is designed to allow employers a host of new options to put teens to work on hazardous jobs in settings that include many of America’s deadliest jobs. Under this bill, teens could be assigned work doing “light assembly work” in or about facilities manufacturing or storing explosives; “wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking” operations; “operation of circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears,” work “in or about foundries,” and a long list of other dangerous settings. Many of these proposed changes directly conflict with federal child labor laws that prohibit hazardous work, leading the US Department of Labor’s top attorney to call the proposed legislation ‘irresponsible.’
There is nothing in current state law that prevents employers from hiring teens as young as 14 for safe, age-appropriate work at hours that allow gaining work experience without compromising education and future earnings. Yet at a time when serious violations of existing child labor laws are on the rise, the Iowa Senate is proposing to allow corporations to profit from working children longer hours in unsafe conditions while shielding them from legal liability when injuries or deaths result from putting kids in harm’s way.
On behalf of the Iowa Federation of Labor’s tens of thousands of affiliated union members across the state, we call on House leaders and Governor Kim Reynolds to put a stop to discussion of this or any bill that proposes allowing hazardous child labor in Iowa communities. Iowa kids are NOT for sale.”
Analysis of SF542: Proposed changes to Iowa child labor law regarding hazardous work, employer liability, and penalties for employer violations
SF 542 removes current restrictions on placing youth in hazardous jobs and adds new categories of allowable hazardous work
New forms of hazardous work that SF542 would allow for youth age sixteen and up
- “Light assembly work” in or about plants or establishments manufacturing or storing explosives or articles containing explosive elements
Currently prohibited hazardous work (Iowa Code 92.8) that SF542 would allow for youth age sixteen and up
- “Occupations of motor vehicle driver or helper”
New forms of hazardous work that SF542 would allow for youth age fifteen and up
- Jobs that involve loading and unloading equipment and retail items into motor vehicles and stocking shelves with items weighing thirty pounds, or up to fifty pounds if granted a waiver from state agency; and
- Non-machine “light assembly work” if granted a waiver from state agency.
Currently prohibited hazardous work (Iowa Code 92.6) that SF542 would allow for youth age fourteen and up
- Work in industrial laundries “using machines with capacity of ten or more cubic feet or designed to reach internal temperatures over 212 degrees Fahrenheit”
SF542 authorizes state agencies to grant any employer an “exception” from existing child labor laws, in order to place youth in hazardous jobs designated as “work-based learning” or “employer administered work-related programs”
Currently prohibited hazardous work that SF542 would allow for youth age sixteen and up under these programs includes:
- Operation of power-driven woodworking machines
- Operation of elevators and other power-driven hoisting apparatus
- Operation of power-driven metal forming, punching, and shearing machines
- Operation of power-driven bakery machines
- Operation of power-driven paper products machines
- Manufacturing of brick, tile, and related products
- Operation of circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears
- Wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking operations
- Roofing operations
- Excavation
- Work activities in or about foundries
- Operation of dry cleaning or dying machinery
- Transmission, distribution or delivery of goods or messages between the hours of 10PM and 5AM
Currently prohibited hazardous work that SF542 would allow for youth age 14 and up under these programs:
- Any manufacturing work activity
- Processing work activities
- Work activities requiring the performance of any duties in workrooms or work places where goods are manufactured, mined, or otherwise processed
- Work activities in a retail, food service, or gasoline establishment in connection with maintenance or repair of the establishment, machines, or equipment; operating, setting up, adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or repairing power-driven food slicers and grinders, food choppers and cutters, and bakery-type mixers; loading and unloading goods to and from trucks, railroad cars, or conveyers; work activities in warehouses
SF542 shields employers from consequences of violating child labor laws or exposing children to conditions that cause injury, illness, or death
Current enforcement authority of state agencies to fine employers who violate child labor laws is diluted under SF542:
- “The director [of Iowa Workforce Development] may waive or reduce a civil penalty” and “shall provide a fifteen-day grace period” before imposing any civil penalty.
SF542 limits employer liability for causing youth to be injured, sickened, or killed while working a job designated a “work-based learning program”:
- “A business that accepts a secondary student in a work-based learning program shall not be subject to civil liability for any claim for bodily injury arising from the student’s driving to or from the business or worksite to participate in the work-based learning program unless the student is acting within the course and scope of the student’s employment at the direction of the business.
- “Any claim for bodily injury to the student or sickness or death by accident of the student arising from the student’s participation in the work-based learning program at the business or worksite shall by recovered exclusively under chapters 85A, 85B, and 86” [referring to Iowa workers’ compensation law]
