Businesses that violate Iowa's more relaxed child labor laws would face reduced civil penalties under a proposed rule change that critics have decried as harmful to young workers.
The proposed rule would cap civil penalties for businesses that violate the rules governing the time and hours that children may work to $2,500 per instance. That's a drop from the current fine of $10,000 per instance.
The proposed reduced penalties come after Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2023 signed into law legislation that eased restrictions on child labor, allowing teens as young as 14 to work up to six hours a day during the school year and work longer into the evening.
The new law allows 14- and 15-year-olds to work as late as 9 p.m. on school nights and as late as 11 p.m. during the summer.
That's less restrictive than federal law, which specifies younger teens must clock out by 7 p.m. during the school year and by 9 p.m. during the summer.
Charlie Wishman, Iowa AFL-CIO president, in a call with reporters Wednesday said Reynolds led the trend of states increasingly rolling back child labor standards. The Labor Department has documented "too many cases in Iowa" of businesses illegally employing children in meatpacking, manufacturing and construction jobs, he said.
“The federal government has been doing their job and enforcing, so we’re here to call on the governor and Iowa Legislature to change course," Wishman said. "It’s not too late to say you made a mistake and start over and go back and maybe...
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