Sponsors (8)
The bill improves safety and clarity by letting the Secretary label dangerous mechanized logging jobs and modernizing employer definitions, but leaves a family-operator exemption and creates compliance and enforcement burdens for small timber businesses.
16- and 17-year-olds in logging jobs gain stronger protection: the Secretary can label specific mechanized timber- harvesting tasks as 'particularly hazardous,' reducing teen exposure to dangerous work and likely lowering injury risk and future health costs.
Employers and regulators get clearer, modernized definitions for logging and mechanized timber work, reducing ambiguity about which businesses and activities are covered by the rules.
Family-owned timber operations remain able to employ 16- and 17-year-olds in hazardous occupations due to the parent/in loco parentis exemption, undermining the bill's protections for some teens.
Covered employers — especially small and rural timber businesses — face increased compliance costs and potential labor restrictions when occupations are designated as particularly hazardous.
Designations of 'particularly hazardous' occupations could be applied unevenly, creating enforcement complexity, disputes, and regulatory uncertainty for employers and workers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Extends FLSA hazardous-occupation child-labor protections to 16–17-year-olds in designated timber harvesting and mechanized logging occupations, with a parental-ownership exemption.
Official title: To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt certain 16- and 17-year-old individuals employed in timber harvesting entities or mechanized timber harvesting entities from child labor laws, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 11, 2025 by Jared Golden · Last progress February 11, 2025
Makes federal child-labor protections apply to 16- and 17-year-old workers in timber harvesting and mechanized timber harvesting occupations that the Secretary of Labor identifies as "particularly hazardous," while exempting worksites owned or operated by a parent or person standing in loco parentis. Also adds statutory definitions for "timber harvesting employer" and "mechanized timber harvesting employer" and lists examples of mechanized equipment.