Child labor violations are on the rise in Maine, according to a report released earlier this week by the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL).
Violations include companies employing young individuals without a work permit, allowing children to work beyond the hourly restrictions set for their age, and employing young workers for hazardous jobs they are not lawfully allowed to hold, like using a lawnmower or cooking french fries.
“The safety of Maine’s workers, especially our youth workers, is paramount to the Maine Department of Labor. All workers have the right to a safe work environment,” said Michael Roland, Director of MDOL’s Bureau of Labor Standards, in a statement released earlier this week.
“Most Maine employers comply with the nearly identical state and federal legal restrictions designed to protect the health, safety, and education of our minors. However, we have also been observing a marked increase in the numbers of work permits denied, violations of child-protective labor laws, and most disturbingly, in reported injuries to minors in Maine’s workplaces,” Roland said.
In recent years, minors in Maine have been seeking employment at a notably higher rate compared to the past.
Work permit applications for minors increased by nearly 75% between 2017 and 2022. So far this year, the MDOL has received approximately 4,700 applications, about 200 of which have been denied due to the hazardous nature of the position.
During this same time period, a substantially higher number of minors have been injured in the workplace. Over the past decade, the number of children injured at work on a yearly basis has doubled, from 162 in 2012 to 325 in 2022.
In Maine, children under the age of 16 are prohibited from working without first having a work permit approved and on-file for any given job.
Approval is required from several parties before a work permit can be finalized, including the MDOL, a child’s parent or guardian, and the superintendent of the child’s school. Permit approval can be denied by the MDOL if the job secured by the child is deemed hazardous.
There are also restrictions in place regarding the hours a child may work, both during the school year and in the summer.
Although 16 and 17 year old minors are not required to obtain a work permit before starting a job, there are still restrictions on the total number of hours they can work and when the can work them.
For more information on Maine’s child labor laws, see: Maine Laws Governing the Employment of Minors (MDOL)
The increase in child labor violations is not unique to Maine. Nationwide, the number of children involved in child labor violations cases has increased substantially over the course of the past few years.
In 2015, just shy of 1,400 minors were employed in violation of the law. By 2022, this number had risen to 3,876.
Similarly, 355 minors were employed in hazardous occupations in 2015 compared to 688 in 2022.
Prior to 2015, child labor law violations had been declining, meaning that recent trends represent a nationwide change of course.
Read the Full MDOL Press Release
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="21441 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=21441">4 Comments
This is rich (meaning idiotic): The MDOL requires parental approval for children under 16 to work, but they’re allowed to have sex change operations without their approval. Welcome to Maine. “The Way Life Shouldn’t Be.”
They are suddenly worried about the abuse of minors when they are importing illegals to be used and abused as the new slave class for the elites?! What about the concern for the missing and exploited children who have mysteriously disappeared after crossing the southern border?!
You should give the American children citizens a break, at least they WANT to work instead of sitting around collecting welfare like the Illegals who the Dems are handing out Welfare to like French fries to a flock of seagulls.
About 1.3% of women in the United States will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in her lifetime.2 Although this is much lower than the lifetime risk for developing breast cancer,3 there is no recommended test to screen for ovarian cancer, so unlike breast cancer, ovarian cancer is rarely diagnosed early. When ovarian cancer is found early, a woman has nearly a 93% chance of surviving at least 5 years after she is
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Somebody has to mow the Supreme Soviets lawn, at least until all these illegals are lined up with menial jobs for the elites.