Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 17, 1990 TAG: 9003172310
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The sweep this week of fast-food and other businesses across the nation by federal labor officials found 7,000 teen-agers employed for too many hours or in dangerous jobs in violation of child-labor laws, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Most of the violations found in Virginia involved youths under 16 working more than three hours a day on school days or past 7 p.m. on school nights, Maruca said. Other violations included 16- and 17-year-olds working in restricted jobs, he said.
No minor may drive for a job such as pizza delivery or cook in a fast-food restaurant until age 16, he said. Hazardous equipment, such as meat slicers or trash compactors, also are off limits to minors.
The businesses where violations were found are likely to be fined, Maruca said. He said assessment of civil violations could range as high as $1,000 per violation.
The sweep was the first federal enforcement action ever conducted nationwide in the same week, Maruca said. He said he sent seven enforcement officers into hundreds of state businesses Monday through Wednesday.
"We concentrated in Norfolk and Richmond," Maruca said.
Officials said most of the alleged violations occurred at service businesses such as restaurants, grocery stores, pizza and doughnut shops and dry-cleaning establishments.
The sweep came as members of Congress and Virginia lawmakers prepare to overhaul federal and state child-labor laws.
Del. Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg, said a General Assembly committee is preparing a section-by-section review of state child-labor laws. The state Department of Labor and Industry found the laws antiquated, she said.
In Washington, the House Government Operations subcommittee on employment and housing held a hearing Friday on child-labor violations.
In advance of the hearing, the panel's chairman, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said he considered the investigation "not just a media ratings sweep but rather the beginning of a major continuing crackdown on violations of child labor laws."
by CNB