DOL Quits Pursuit of Proposed Child Labor Regulation

DOL Quits Pursuit of Proposed Child Labor Regulation

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report .

Last summer the US Department of Labor proposed updates to child labor regulations for young workers employed in agriculture and related fields stating that that there had been no updates since 1970.

The DOL received more than 10,000 comments about their proposed updates, with most opposed to its proposal as it seemed as an obstacle to prevent children even those growing up on farms or ranches to be involved in agricultural work.

Last week, the DOL stated it was withdrawing its proposals to update the regulations concerning youth under 16 working on farms or ranches.

Washington Farm Bureau’s Associate Director of Government Relations Scott Dilley shares

Dilley: “In my opinion it was a great victory for agriculture. It was something we discussed with our Congressional delegation. We commented against the proposed rules. We encouraged Congress to take a proactive step to stop the rules from being implemented. So hearing that the Department of Labor has withdrawn the regulations is good news. But really this is a proposal should have never been proposed in the first place.”

Farm groups, like the Washington Farm Bureau will be watching to ensure that no future proposals occur.

Dilley: “But we will continue to watch. We want to make sure that the Department of Labor got the message and that they don’t try something like this again. We will be ever diligent to basically protect our family farms.”?

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.