On September 2, 2011, the Department of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (see 76 FR 54836) that includes proposals to amend its existing regulations addressing child labor in agricultural employment and child labor in nonagricultural employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and to incorporate into the regulations the enforcement policies that the Department’s Wage and Hour Division follows when determining whether to assess a civil money penalty for child labor violations and the amount of that penalty. The public was requested to submit comments on the proposal by November 1, 2011.
Although many comments have been submitted on the proposal, the Department has also received requests to extend the period for filing public comments from members of Congress and various agricultural business organizations.
Because of the interest that has been expressed in this matter and the Department’s desire to obtain as much information about its proposals as possible, the Department today announced in the Federal Register that is has extended the period for submitting public comment on the NPRM through December 1, 2011. Those interested in submitting comments should go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. The Department does not believe that extending the comment period will delay publication of the important final rule.
