On September 2, 2011, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register (see 76 FR 54836) that included proposals to amend its existing regulations on child labor in agricultural employment and child labor in nonagricultural employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposed regulation would ban youth under certain ages from engaging in specific types of work at off-farm agricultural businesses and on farms not owned or operated by their parents.
The original deadline for the public to submit comments was November 1, 2011; while many comments have been submitted on the proposal, DOL has also received requests from members of Congress and various agricultural business organizations to extend the period for filing public comments. Therefore, the period for submitting public comment has been extended through December 1, 2011.
Those interested in submitting comments should go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. The Labor Department’s 50-page proposal, available by clicking here, was issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act.