Cass Ballenger: “H.R. 1114 amends regulations which the Department of Labor has issued and which prohibit employers from allowing teenage…”

“H.R. 1114 amends regulations which the Department of Labor has issued and which prohibit employers from allowing teenage employees from loading, operating, or unloading paper balers and paper compactors, such as are normally used by grocery stores and other facilities that receive a lot of items in boxes and similar paper based containers. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1114 on October 24 of last year. The Senate has returned the bill with an amendment that essentially makes two changes to bill which we in the House passed last year. The first change addresses a concern which some had with the constitutionality of one aspect of the House-passed bill. Under the House bill, teenagers would be allowed to load paper balers and compactors which meet the most current safety standard issued by the American National Standards Institute, or ANSI, so long as certain other protections were also provided. While it is clear that Congress may, by reference, incorporate the current ANSI standard, there was concern about incorporating by reference future standards by a nongovernmental entity. Under the Senate amendment, future ANSI standards would apply only if the Secretary of Labor certifies that the standard is at least as protective of the safety of minors as the current ANSI standards are. Second, the Senate amendment adds a reporting requirement to the legislation.”