S-4363.2 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 6540
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1994 Regular Session
By Senators L. Smith, Anderson, Moyer, Hochstatter, Prince, Oke, McDonald and Sellar
Read first time 01/26/94. Referred to Committee on Labor & Commerce.
AN ACT Relating to child labor; amending RCW 49.12.121, 49.12.105, 49.12.185, 49.12.390, 49.12.410, and 49.12.005; adding new sections to chapter 49.12 RCW; creating a new section; prescribing penalties; and providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that:
(1) Juvenile crime has grown at an alarming rate;
(2) Statistics show that juveniles who work have fewer criminal convictions than those who do not;
(3) Employment opportunities for juveniles teach them responsibility, prepare them for self-sufficiency after they leave home, and serve a valuable function for the employer community;
(4) Increasing opportunities for employment for juveniles is an important factor in addressing juvenile justice issues; and
(5) Every opportunity must be taken to permit juveniles to take advantage of increased opportunities for employment.
Sec. 2. RCW 49.12.121 and 1993 c 294 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) The department may
at any time inquire into wages, hours, and conditions of labor of minors
employed in any trade, business, or occupation in the state of Washington ((and
may adopt special rules for the protection of the safety, health, and welfare
of minor employees. However, the rules may not limit the hours per day or per
week, or other specified work period, that may be worked by minors who are
emancipated by court order)).
(2) The department
shall issue work permits to employers for the employment of minors, after being
assured the proposed employment of a minor meets the standards for the health,
safety, and welfare of minors as set forth in ((the rules adopted by the
department)) sections 3 through 6 of this act. No minor person
shall be employed in any occupation, trade, or industry subject to ((this
1973 amendatory act)) chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess., unless
a work permit has been properly issued, with the consent of the parent,
guardian, or other person having legal custody of the minor and with the
approval of the school which such minor may then be attending. However, the
consent of a parent, guardian, or other person, or the approval of the school
which the minor may then be attending, is unnecessary if the minor is
emancipated by court order.
(3) The minimum wage for minors shall be as prescribed in RCW 49.46.020.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) Minors under age sixteen may not be employed: (a) During school hours except by special permission from school officials as outlined in RCW 28A.225.010 and 28A.225.080; (b) before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. during the school year; or (c) after 9:00 p.m. during the summer vacation season.
(2) Minors under age sixteen may not be employed more than three hours per day on school days nor more than eighteen hours per week during school weeks.
(3) No minor may be employed more than forty hours per week during school weeks.
(4) No minor may be employed more than eight hours per day nor more than five days in any one week. Minors employed past 8:00 p.m. in service occupations shall be supervised by a responsible adult who is required to be on the premises.
(5) On nights preceding a school day, no minor may be employed on any two consecutive nights later than 9:00 p.m. or ten hours prior to his or her first scheduled school class, whichever is later.
(6) No minor may be employed more than five hours without a meal period of at least thirty minutes.
(7) Every minor employee shall be given a rest period of at least ten minutes in every four-hour period of employment.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) The following employments are prohibited for all minors, unless specifically permitted in the text of the hazardous occupations orders in nonagricultural occupations of the child labor provisions of the federal fair labor standards act:
(a) Occupations in or about plants or establishments manufacturing or storing explosives or articles containing explosive components;
(b) Occupations involving regular driving of motor vehicles. Occasional driving is permissible if: (i) The minor has a valid state driver's license for the type of driving involved, (ii) driving is restricted to daylight hours, (iii) vehicle gross weight is under six thousand pounds, (iv) the minor has completed a state-approved driver education course, and (v) seat belts are provided in the vehicle and the minor has been instructed to use them;
(c) All mining operations;
(d) Logging occupations and occupations in the operation of any sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or cooperage-stock mill;
(e) Occupations involving operation of power-driven woodworking machines, power-driven metal-forming punching and shearing machines, power-driven bakery machines, power-driven paper products machines, circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears, elevators, and other power-driven hoisting apparatus;
(f) Occupations involving potential exposure to radioactive substances and to ionizing radiations;
(g) Occupations involving slaughtering, meatpacking, or processing and rendering;
(h) Occupations involving wrecking, demolition, and ship breaking operations;
(i) All roofing operations;
(j) Occupations involving excavations;
(k) Occupations involving manufacturing of brick, tile, and kindred products.
(2) The following types of work are prohibited for all minors:
(a) Work involving operation of or working in proximity to earthmoving machines, cranes, garbage compactors, or other heavy equipment of similar nature;
(b) Work in establishments or workplaces being picketed during the course of a labor dispute;
(c) Work as a nurse's aide, unless the minor is a student in a bona fide nursing program or has successfully completed such a program;
(d) Work as a maid or bellhop in motels or hotels, unless the minor is accompanied by a responsible adult whenever the work requires the minor to enter assigned guest rooms;
(e) Work in shooting galleries, penny arcades, sauna-massage parlors, or body painting studios.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Employment of minors under age sixteen is subject to the following additional restrictions. They are prohibited from working:
(1) In any manufacturing occupation;
(2) In any processing operations such as filleting of fish, dressing poultry, cracking nuts, commercial processing, canning, freezing, or drying of foods, laundering as performed by commercial laundries, and dry cleaning;
(3) In work rooms or workplaces where goods are manufactured, mined, or otherwise processed;
(4) In any public messenger service;
(5) In occupations connected with transportation, warehouse and storage, communications and public utilities, or construction. Office or sales work related to these occupations is permitted if none of the minor's work is performed on the transportation media or construction site;
(6) In occupations requiring operation or tending of any power-driven machinery or hoisting apparatus;
(7) In the following specific areas of retail, food service, or gasoline service station operations:
(a) Work performed in or about boiler or engine rooms;
(b) Maintenance or repair work;
(c) Outside window washing or other work requiring the worker to be positioned at higher than ground level;
(d) Cooking and baking;
(e) Operating, setting up, adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or repairing power-driven food slicers and grinders, food choppers and cutters, and bakery-type mixers;
(f) Work in freezers, meat coolers, and all work in preparing meat for sale. Wrapping, sealing, labeling, weighing, pricing, and stocking are permitted if work is performed away from meat-cutting and preparation areas;
(g) Loading and unloading goods to or from trucks, railroad cars, or conveyors.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) The employer is responsible for obtaining and keeping on file the following information concerning each minor employee:
(a) Proof of age by means of a copy of one of the following: (i) Birth certificate, (ii) driver's license, (iii) baptismal record, (iv) bible record, (v) insurance policy at least one year old indicating birth date, or (vi) witnessed statement of parent or guardian;
(b) Personal data relating to the minor, including name, address, and sex;
(c) Description of employment, including each of the following: Earliest and latest hours of employment, description of specific meal and rest periods, and complete description of duties;
(d) Parental authorization for employment by signature of parent or guardian on a form provided by the department;
(e) School authorization for employment, during any part of the school year, on a form provided by the department.
(2) The employer shall make any or all of the above information available to the department or any of its authorized agents upon request.
Sec. 7. RCW 49.12.105 and 1973 2nd ex.s. c 16 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:
An employer may apply
to the ((committee)) department for an order for a variance from
any ((rule or regulation establishing a)) standard for wages, hours, or
conditions of labor ((promulgated by the committee)) established
under this chapter. The ((committee)) department shall issue an
order granting a variance if it determines or decides that the applicant for
the variance has shown good cause for the lack of compliance. Any order so
issued shall prescribe the conditions the employer must maintain, and the
practices, means, methods, operations, standards and processes which ((he))
the employer must adopt and utilize to the extent they differ from the
standard in question. At any time the ((committee)) department
may terminate and revoke such order, provided the employer was notified by the
((committee)) department of the termination at least thirty days
prior to said termination.
Sec. 8. RCW 49.12.185 and 1973 2nd ex.s. c 16 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:
((This 1973
amendatory act)) Chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. and sections 3
through 6 of this act shall not apply to newspaper vendors or carriers and
domestic or casual labor in or about private residences and agricultural labor
as defined in RCW 50.04.150((, as now or hereafter amended)).
Sec. 9. RCW 49.12.390 and 1991 c 303 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)(a) Except as
otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, if the director, or the
director's designee, finds that an employer has violated any of the
requirements of RCW 49.12.121 ((or)), 49.12.123, sections 3
through 6 of this act, or a rule or order adopted or variance granted under
RCW 49.12.121 ((or)), 49.12.123, or sections 3 through 6 of
this act, a citation stating the violations shall be issued to the
employer. The citation shall be in writing, describing the nature of the
violation including reference to the standards, rules, or orders alleged to
have been violated. An initial citation for failure to comply with RCW
49.12.123, section 6 of this act, or rules requiring a minor work permit
and maintenance of records shall state a specific and reasonable time for
abatement of the violation to allow the employer to correct the violation
without penalty. The director or the director's designee may establish a
specific time for abatement of other nonserious violations in lieu of a penalty
for first time violations. The citation and a proposed penalty assessment shall
be given to the highest management official available at the workplace or be
mailed to the employer at the workplace. In addition, the department shall
mail a copy of the citation and proposed penalty assessment to the central
personnel office of the employer. Citations issued under this section shall be
posted at or near the place where the violation occurred.
(b) Except when an employer corrects a violation as provided in (a) of this subsection, he or she shall be assessed a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars depending on the size of the business and the gravity of the violation. The employer shall pay the amount assessed within thirty days of receipt of the assessment or notify the director of his or her intent to appeal the citation or the assessment penalty as provided in RCW 49.12.400.
(2) If the director, or
the director's designee, finds that an employer has committed a serious or
repeated violation of the requirements of RCW 49.12.121 ((or)),
49.12.123, sections 3 through 6 of this act, or any rule or order
adopted or variance granted under RCW 49.12.121 ((or)),
49.12.123, or sections 3 through 6 of this act, the employer is subject
to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars for each day the
violation continues. For the purposes of this subsection, a serious violation
shall be deemed to exist if death or serious physical harm has resulted or is
imminent from a condition that exists, or from one or more practices, means,
methods, operations, or processes that have been adopted or are in use by the
employer, unless the employer did not, and could not with the exercise of
reasonable diligence, know of the presence of the violation.
(3) In addition to any
other authority provided in this section, if, upon inspection or investigation,
the director, or director's designee, believes that an employer has violated
RCW 49.12.121 ((or)), 49.12.123, sections 3 through 6 of this
act, or a rule or order adopted or variance granted under RCW 49.12.121 ((or)),
49.12.123, or sections 3 through 6 of this act, and that the violation
creates a danger from which there is a substantial probability that death or
serious physical harm could result to a minor employee, the director, or
director's designee, may issue an order immediately restraining the condition,
practice, method, process, or means creating the danger in the workplace. An
order issued under this subsection may require the employer to take steps
necessary to avoid, correct, or remove the danger and to prohibit the
employment or presence of a minor in locations or under conditions where the
danger exists.
(4) An employer who violates any of the posting requirements of RCW 49.12.121 or rules adopted implementing RCW 49.12.121 shall be assessed a civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars for each violation.
(5) A person who gives advance notice, without the authority of the director, of an inspection to be conducted under this chapter shall be assessed a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars.
(6) Penalties assessed under this section shall be paid to the director and deposited into the general fund.
Sec. 10. RCW 49.12.410 and 1991 c 303 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
An employer who
knowingly or recklessly violates the requirements of RCW 49.12.121 ((or)),
49.12.123, sections 3 through 6 of this act, or a rule or order adopted
under RCW 49.12.121 ((or)), 49.12.123, or sections 3 through 6
of this act, is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. An employer whose practices
in violation of the requirements of RCW 49.12.121 ((or)),
49.12.123, sections 3 through 6 of this act, or a rule or order adopted
under RCW 49.12.121 ((or)), 49.12.123, or sections 3 through 6
of this act, result in the death or permanent disability of a minor
employee is guilty of a class C felony.
Sec. 11. RCW 49.12.005 and 1988 c 236 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:
For the purposes of this chapter:
(1) The term "department" means the department of labor and industries.
(2) The term "director" means the director of the department of labor and industries, or his or her designated representative.
(3) The term "employer" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership, business trust, legal representative, or other business entity which engages in any business, industry, profession, or activity in this state and employs one or more employees and for the purposes of RCW 49.12.270 through 49.12.295 also includes the state, any state institution, any state agency, political subdivisions of the state, and any municipal corporation or quasi-municipal corporation.
(4) The term "employee" means an employee who is employed in the business of his or her employer whether by way of manual labor or otherwise.
(5) The term "conditions of labor" shall mean and include the conditions of rest and meal periods for employees including provisions for personal privacy, practices, methods and means by or through which labor or services are performed by employees and includes bona fide physical qualifications in employment, but shall not include conditions of labor otherwise governed by statutes and rules and regulations relating to industrial safety and health administered by the department.
(6) ((For the
purpose of this 1973 amendatory act a)) The term "minor"
((is defined to be)) means a person of either sex under the age
of eighteen years.
(7) The term "committee" shall mean the industrial welfare committee.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. Sections 3 through 6 of this act are each added to chapter 49.12 RCW.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. This act shall take effect July 1, 1994.
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