The Biden administration has limited tools to fight child labor violations in Iowa, where a Republican state legislature just enacted a statute that would allow kids to work in conditions that are illegal under federal law.
While top officials from the US Labor Department have said that the bill signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) last month violates federal protections that trump state rules, the agency hasn’t outlined any specific plan to boost enforcement in Iowa, or in other states loosening child labor restrictions.
The DOL may not act anytime soon. The agency can educate the public about the law and use its extremely limited resources to focus its enforcement in states. But it can’t compel state labor officials in Iowa, or any other state with child labor laws more permissive than federal law, to enforce federal rules on their own, according to labor attorneys.
Bloomberg Law sent multiple requests for comment to the Labor Department inquiring about forthcoming guidance or enforcement initiatives targeting Iowa or other states weakening child labor laws. The agency said in a statement that it “monitors state laws” and will “enforce accordingly,” but provided no concrete assurance it would be altering its oversight plans as a result of the new Iowa statute.
Effective July 1, the new Iowa law extends the hours that minors can work, limits business liability for an...
A post claiming to list all the actions taken by the Home Minister in Kashmir in the last 10 days is going viral on social media. The posts list out 18 points, which include claims regarding citiz...