(The Center Square) - A new law introduced by a California congressman would raise the minimum legal age of child workers in agriculture from 12 to 17.
The bill would update the original 1938 law regulating farmworkers and children in farm jobs.
U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, introduced House Resolution 6066, or the CARE Act, on the floor of the U.S. House on Nov. 17. The bill would raise the minimum age of agricultural workers nationwide from 12 to 17 for most agricultural jobs and to 16 for jobs in mining, manufacturing and similar industries.
According to The CARE Act, which stands for the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment, children are allowed to work in agricultural jobs at much younger ages than virtually any other job in any other line of work. The primary aim of the bill is to raise wages for these children and institute new regulations regarding work hours.
“Historically, children have been permitted to work in agriculture at younger ages, for longer hours, and under more hazardous conditions than other working children,” according to Ruiz's bill. “Like most other agricultural workers, they remain excluded from basic protections provided to workers in other industries under federal employment laws. Even where protections exist under federal law, they are seldom ever enforced.”
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