Department of Labor October 4, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) will hold a public hearing on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation; Child Labor ViolationsCivil Money Penalties to give interested persons an opportunity to present comments on the proposed rule. In the NPRM, the Department proposes to revise the child labor regulations issued pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which set forth the criteria for the permissible employment of minors under 16 years of age in agricultural and under 18 years in nonagricultural occupations. The NPRM proposes to implement specific recommendations made by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, increase parity between the agricultural and nonagricultural child labor provisions, and also address other areas that can be improved, which were identified by the Department's own enforcement actions. The NPRM was published in the Federal Register on September 2, 2011, and the comment period runs through November 1, 2011.

This initial determination proposes to revise the list required by Executive Order No. 13126 (``Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor'') in accordance with the Department of Labor's ``Procedural Guidelines for the Maintenance of the List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labor.'' Under the procurement regulations implementing this Executive Order, federal contractors who supply products on the list published by the Department of Labor must certify that they have made a good faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured child labor was used to produce the items listed. This notice proposes to add 3 new items to the list that the Department of Labor preliminarily believes might have been mined, produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. The Department of Labor invites public comment on this initial determination. The Department will consider all public comments prior to publishing a final determination updating the list of products, made in consultation and cooperation with the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security.