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RALEIGH A bill that would double penalties for employers who violate North Carolina's child labor laws will move to the full Senate today after clearing a chamber committee Tuesday.
The bill, which won approval from the House this spring, would increase the maximum fine for first-time offenders to $500, up from $250. Employers would face a fine of up to $1,000 for additional violations.
Also, employers could be fined up to $14,000 for any serious workplace safety violation that injures workers under age 18. That provision had been stripped from an earlier version of the bill, but was reintroduced at Tuesday's committee meeting.
North Carolina's child labor laws are among the weakest in the nation, according to research by the National Consumers League.
Art Britt, of the N.C. Labor Department, said there were 325 violations of the youth employment section of the state's wage and hour act in 2007-08.
Some senators, while supporting the bill, said they hope it doesn't discourage all young people from working. Sen. David Hoyle of Gaston County also asked if there were protections for employers if young workers didn't follow instructions.
The legislation was spurred by stories in the Observer last year that detailed how thousands of U.S. youths get hurt on jobs deemed unsafe for young workers.
Rep. Jennifer Weiss, a Cary Democrat and chief sponsor of the bill, said legislative leaders worked with the Labor Department and employers in drafting the bill. She said the state currently has smaller penalties for youth labor violations than some neighboring states.
Weiss mentioned the case of a 17-year-old Nery Castaneda, who was killed in Greensboro in 2007 after he was required to use a piece of machinery he was not legally old enough to operate. Castaneda was devoured by a pallet shredder, a massive machine that turned damaged pallets into mulch.
The new bill will help “make sure that employers make sure that they don't put young people in harm's way,” Weiss said.
The penalties, if approved by the full Senate and adopted into law, would go into effect Dec. 1.
