3-Day Sweep Finds 7,000 Violating Child Labor Law

In an effort to dramatize how many young teen-agers are working more hours than permitted, Labor Department investigators staged a nationwide sweep that found 7,000 minors in violation of child labor laws in just three days, Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole said Thursday in Washington.

The sweep indicated that traditional inspections by the Labor Department’s wage-and-hour compliance officers, who usually visit workplaces only in response to complaints, have barely touched the child-labor problem.

By assigning half of its 953 compliance officers to actively look for nothing but child labor violations this Monday through Wednesday, the department in three days found one-third as many violations as it uncovered during all of 1989. In California, the result was even more shocking. The 688 violations were 86% of the 1989 total.

More than 80% of the children found working illegally were 14- and 15-year-olds who, under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, cannot work during school hours, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., or more than 18 hours a week. Another 900 teen-agers, most of them 16 and 17, were found working in jobs considered too hazardous for those under 18, ranging from operating motor vehicles to power-driven meat-slicing machinery to paper-bailers.

In Los Angeles, the most serious violation involved a 15-year-old operating a fork lift.

The sweep was the second step of a crackdown on employers whose illegal use of children has soared dramatically in the last decade.

Last month, the Labor Department sharply increased potential fines by changing the way the department calculated them. Rather than imposing only one fine for each child illegally employed, the department now is able to levy multiple fines per child if more than one regulation has been violated. The maximum penalty per violation remains only $1,000, however.

Dole, who has expressed far stronger support for government regulation of worker health and safety than her predecessors in the Reagan Administration, told a news conference Thursday that “protecting our children . . . from exploitation in the workplace is a fundamental duty of the Labor Department. . . . The cop is on the beat. Violations, whether motivated by greed or by ignorance, will not be tolerated.”

Child-labor violations soared to 22,508 last year from 9,836 in 1985, an increase of 128%. While the Labor Department attributes some of this to more effective enforcement, officials believe much of the problem is caused by a shrinking pool of older teen-agers, an increase in the number of service jobs and a relatively low unemployment rate.

“The number of 16- and 17-year-olds is shrinking and employers are dipping into the younger kids. You see that in the number of work permits given out by the states,” said Linda F. Golodner, chairwoman of a Labor Department child labor advisory group set up during the last year of the Reagan Administration.

“It represents the changing nature of our society and our economy,” Labor Department spokesman Bob Cuccia said.

About 1,400 of the 3,400 businesses investigated during the sweep were found to be violating the law, officials said. Some were cited immediately. Others still are under investigation. Dole estimated fines totaling $1.8 million would be imposed. The penalties may be appealed to an administrative law judge.

While Dole declined to name or identify the types of employers found in violation, saying that the cases remain under investigation, sources familiar with the sweep described the typical violation as a 14- or 15-year-old working until perhaps 10 p.m. at a fast-food establishment or other restaurant.

Last week, in a case not related to the sweep but billed as part of Dole’s campaign, the Labor Department sued Burger King, one of the nation’s largest employers of young people, for allegedly working children under 16 too many hours at most of the chain’s 800 restaurants. Burger King’s chairman subsequently acknowledged that the company had “an unacceptable record” but blamed much of it on the chain’s previous owners, who sold the business last year.

While physical danger was not a consideration in most of the violations uncovered this week, investigators stressed that too much work by younger teen-agers--particularly work beyond the 7 p.m. deadline--has serious long-term consequences.

“They are possibly dooming themselves to cyclical poverty because they do not make the best students. They’re too tired to keep their heads up at school,” said Ned Sullivan, director of the department’s Los Angeles wage and hour office.

Herb Goldstein, the Labor Department’s Western States compliance director, said he believes publicity about the child-labor crackdown is already making a dent. Before the sweep, one fast-food chain sent a notice to all its outlets alluding to Dole’s campaign and warning managers that anyone responsible for violating a child-labor law would be fired. “During the sweep that chain didn’t have any problems,” Goldstein said.

Despite receiving praise for the crackdown, Dole is expected to face continued congressional pressure to spend more money on child-labor problems. Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who last year introduced legislation to crack down on garment-district sweatshops, now plans to introduce a bill focusing specifically on child-labor violations. It would require the government to increase penalties and increase inspections.

“We think the resources at the disposal of the department are insufficient and that much tougher laws need to be written,” a spokesman for Schumer said.

Dole declined to say Thursday whether she will endorse Schumer’s bill.

Child-labor adviser Golodner said in addition to more funding, the federal government needs to trigger a public-awareness program.

“Parents and youth don’t know what the law is or why the law exists,” she said. “It’s amazing that people don’t realize this (use of young teen-agers) is happening.”

CHILD LABOR LAW CITATIONS

Chart shows number of offenders cited for child labor law violations in the last decade.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor