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Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)-H.R. 2089
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472515704
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Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)-H.R. 2089
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Records of the Office of the Chief of Staff (Clinton Administration)
Jennifer O'Connor's Subject Files
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[Labor]
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ID:
SEP 11'96
15:37 No. 013 P.01
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Legislative Reference Division
Lebor-Welfare-Personnel Branch
Telecopier Transmittal Sheet
LABOR HR2089 V
FROM: Anna Bríatico
395-7887
DATE: 9/11/96
TIME:
3
Pages sent (including transmittal sheet):
COMMENTS:
Attached is the marked up
version of the Labor
letter Please
let me know
TO: Jennifer O' Connor
if O.K.
(Stacia)
ASAP.
fine
PLEASE CALL THE PERSON(S) NAMED ABOVE FOR IMMEDIATE PICK-UP.
ID:
SEP 11'96 15:38 No. 013 P.02
HHS Comments
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
SECRETARY OF LABOR
WASHINGTON. D.C.
The Honorable Cass Ballenger
Chairman
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
Committee on Economic and Educational
Opportunities
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Ballenger:
I an vriting to provide you with the views of the Department
of Labor on on.H.R. 2089.
The Department of Labor is committed to helping this
nation's youth find meaningful and productive employment;
however, their safety and health must not be placed at risk by
a
such employment. M.R. 2089 would substantially weaken existing
restrictions on the employment of 16- and 17-year olds in jobs
that require driving. It will increase the on-the-job driving
time of young vorkers, and increase the likelihood that more
people will be injured or killed in traffic accidents. The
Department cannot support legisletion that raises the rick of is concerned
injury end death to young workers or the public.
thatthis legislation will raise the risk of injury and deoth to young workers
The existing rules governing occupational driving for young
or the
workers, set forth in Hazardous Occupation Order No. 2, prohibit
public.
anyone under the age of 18 from being employed to drive -- with
límited exception for "incidental and occasional" driving of
automobiles (and trucke weighing 6,000 pounds or less) under
certain circumstances. H.R. 2089 would greatly expand the
exemption to allow minors age 16 and 17 to operate such vehicles
unless the operation is the primery duty of the minor's job.
This proposed legislation would mean that teenagers -- many of
whom will have Just been licensed to drive -- would be permitted
to spend almost half of their working hours behind the wheel on
public roads and highways under the pressures associated with any
employment situation. Sixteen and 17-year old youths could be
employed to deliver pizzas or, shuttle passengers to and from
automobile dealerships, for example, as long as it is not their
"primary" duty.
The need to protect young workers in an increasingly fast-
paced, highly-competitive workplace is as real as when the child
labor laws were first enacted. According to a National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study, automobile
crashes vere the single largest cause of occupational deaths for
16- and 17-year-olds during the 1980s and remain A leading cause
of fatalities. And, despite the fact that most occupational
ID:
SEP 11'96 15:38 No 013 P.03
driving
at least
occupational
driving is prohibited for this age group third of all crashes
involving young workers occurred while they were vorking. Newly
licensed drivers are especially at risk, with higher orash rates
than any other age group. The American Automobile Association,
the National Safety Council and the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety have all added to the growing stotistical basis
for continuing restrictions on occupational driving by youth.
Our own record, as well, is replete with examples of 16- and 17-
year-olds who have been injured or killed while driving.
The Department is examining aspects of the child labor
regulations, including this Hazardous Occupation Order, to
determine whether the rules should be updated to accommodate the
modern American workplace, but that effort is grounded in the
basic assumption that responsible public policy dictates that
work not be detrimental to young people's health and well-being
or interfere with their schooling. The Department/strongly
opposes legislative changes to these regulations, such as those
proposed in H.R. 2089, that increase the chance that young
drivers will suffer occupational injury or death.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Reich
Insert:
believes that an issue with significant safety
ramifications , such as the legislative changes
proposed in H.R. 2089, should be dealt with
through the rulemaking process.