Sponsors (6)
The bill increases protections for 16- and 17-year-olds in logging (reducing injury risk and clarifying enforcement) at the cost of narrower exemptions and higher compliance or labor costs for small and family-run timber operations.
16- and 17-year-old workers in logging will be barred from Secretary-designated hazardous logging tasks, reducing their risk of serious injury on the job.
Clarifying the definitions of 'timber harvesting employer' and 'mechanized timber harvesting employer' will help employers and the Department of Labor apply child-labor rules more consistently and predictably.
Limiting hazardous mechanized logging tasks for older teens may reduce injury-related costs and financial strain for families and rural communities.
Family-owned and small logging operations will face narrower exemptions and greater compliance requirements, increasing administrative burdens and potentially creating confusion about which youth can perform hazardous tasks.
Some timber employers may lose access to 16- and 17-year-old labor for hazardous tasks, raising labor costs or reducing operational capacity for small and rural timber businesses.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds logging-specific employer definitions to the FLSA and allows the Labor Secretary to apply hazardous-occupation child labor limits to 16- and 17-year-old logging employees, with a parental business exception.
Introduced February 11, 2025 by Jared Golden · Last progress February 11, 2025
Adds logging-specific employer definitions to the Fair Labor Standards Act and makes the federal hazardous-occupation child labor rules potentially applicable to 16- and 17-year-old employees in logging when the Secretary of Labor declares certain logging occupations particularly hazardous. The hazardous-occupation restrictions would not apply if the employer is owned or operated by the employee’s parent or person standing in the place of a parent.