Proposed Farm Child Labor Laws – Part 2

The agricultural community has been engaged in discussions about proposed changes that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has put forward for the regulations governing youth labor in agriculture. While discussion is a good thing, the conversations have in some cases included speculation, and in other cases missed important points entirely.

Partially True Point #1: “My kids won’t be able to help with farm chores that help shape our values, such as a hard work ethic.” This argument is brought forward in opposition to the proposed changes. It is somewhat true and also somewhat false.

A long, hot summer on the Koehler farm.

The truth is that after receiving a strong response from the farming community, the DOL says it has changed its stance on the “parental exemption.” This exemption states that farm owners or operators’ children of any age will still be able to perform any activity otherwise prohibited to workers deemed too young. This exemption is supposed to include a farm organized as a corporation or partnership, as long as the parent has a “substantial interest” in the farm.

The term “substantial interest” remains vague. The farm community will have to monitor how the DOL defines it. Another unknown is whether grandchildren could work on their grandparents’ farms or nieces and nephews on uncles’ or aunts’ farms.

There should be another opportunity for public comment on the parental exemption in a revised DOL proposal, due out in early summer.

Partially True Point #2: “FFA and 4H livestock programs will be outlawed.” This concern is mostly false. The proposed rules apply to farm employees. FFA and 4H students would not be affected if they are performing animal husbandry on volunteer time, i.e., as long as they are not paid for their time working on FFA or 4H projects.

For FFA and 4H students who are interested in animal husbandry and who do not have farming parents, the proposed changes make high-school jobs like caring for livestock very difficult. Anyone younger than 16 years old would not be allowed to be paid for:

• branding, breeding, castrating, dehorning, vaccinating, or treating sick or injured animals;
• working in a yard, pen or stall with an in-tact stallion, boar or bull older than 6 months of age, a sow with suckling pigs, or a cow with a newborn calf;
• catching or cooping poultry;
• or herding animals on horseback, using motorized vehicles including ATVs, or in confined spaces such as feedlots or corrals (so basically any herding).

Remember, farmers’ children will be exempt from these rules. But those grandkids, nieces, nephews and children of parents who own a “less than substantial interest” in a farm corporation or partnership are still TBD.

Missing Point of Discussion: The proposed changes will reduce the maximum height at which hired farm workers under age 16 may work. It reduces the maximum height from the current standard of 20 feet to just 6 feet. This would include work on structures, ladders, vehicles, machines and implements.  So no more working in a haymow or stacking hay on a wagon or climbing to the top of a newer model combine or sitting on top of a detasseler carrier. This rule change could eliminate a large number of summer jobs for high-school kids in rural areas.

The farming community needs to keep focused on the DOL’s proposed rule changes. They could alter the way in which many children grow up in rural America, developing their love and respect for farming. Stay updated by viewing the Department of Labor website dedicated to the subject.

What other proposed changes do you think the farming community should question?

Heather Koehler works on the AdFarm public relations team. She and her brothers grew up working on her family’s eastern Pennsylvania farm that has employed the talents of young adults for years.