CHILD LABOR; MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS
ARTICLE 2. CHILD LABOR
34:2-21.1. Definitions
(a) "Employment certificate" means a certificate granted by the issuing officer authorizing the employment of a child as permitted under this act.
(b) "Age certificate" means a certificate issued for a person between the ages of 18 and 21 years.
(c) "Issuing officer" means any superintendent of schools, supervising principal, or teacher in a school district who is designated by the board of education in the district to issue certificates or permits in accordance with the provisions of this act.
(d) "School district" means any geographical area having authority over the public schools within that area.
(e) "Agriculture" includes farming in all its branches and among other things includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities (including commodities defined as agricultural commodities in subsection (g) of section 15 of the Agricultural Marketing Act, 46 Stat. 11 (12 U.S.C. § 1141 et seq.), as amended), the planting, transplanting and care of trees and shrubs and plants, the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals or poultry, and any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market, provided that such practices shall be performed in connection with the handling of agricultural or horticultural commodities the major portion of which have been produced upon the premises of an owning or leasing employer.
(f) "Newspaper carrier" means any minor between 12 [1] and 18 years of age who engages in the occupation of delivering, soliciting, selling and collecting for, newspapers outside of school hours on residential routes.
(g) "Restaurant" means any establishment or business primarily engaged in the preparation and serving of meals or refreshments, both food and drink, and shall include but not be limited to the following: dining establishments, catering establishments, industrial caterers, and drive-in restaurants.
(h) "Theatrical production" means and includes stage, motion picture and television performances and rehearsals therefor.
(i) "Seasonal amusement" means any exclusively recreational or amusement establishment or business which does not operate more than seven months in any calendar year or which has received during any consecutive six months of the preceding calendar year average receipts equal to or less than 33 1/3 percent of its average receipts for the other six months of that year. "Seasonal amusement" includes but is not limited to amusement rides and amusement device ticket sales, and operations of games. However, "seasonal amusement" does not include retail, eating or drinking concessions, camps, beach and swimming facilities, movie theatres, theatrical productions, athletic events, professional entertainment, pool and billiard parlors, circuses and outdoor shows, sport activities or centers, country club athletic facilities, bowling alleys, race tracks and like facilities which are not part of a diversified amusement enterprise.
[1 The 1981 amendment reduced the minimum age from 12 to 11 for carriers delivering between 6:00 am to 7:00 pm.]
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34:2-21.2. Minors under 16 not to be employed; exceptions; nonresidents
No minor under 16 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with any gainful occupation at any time; provided, that minors between 14 and 16 years of age may be employed, permitted or suffered to work outside school hours and during school vacations but not in or for a factory or in any occupation otherwise prohibited by law or by order or regulation made in pursuance of law; and provided, further, that minors under 16 years of age may engage in professional employment in theatrical productions upon the obtaining of a permit therefor and may engage outside school hours and during school vacations in agricultural pursuits or in street trades and as newspaperboys as defined in this act, in accordance with the provisions of section 15 of this act. Minors may also engage in employment in domestic service performed outside of school hours or during school vacations with the permission of the minor's parents or legal guardian, in a residence other than the minor's own home. Nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to the work of a minor engaged in domestic service or agricultural pursuits performed outside of school hours or during school vacations in connection with the minor's own home and directly for his parents or legal guardian.
Except as to the employment of a minor for whom a theatrical employment permit has been issued, no minor under 16 years of age not a resident of this State shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in any occupation or service whatsoever at any time during which the law of the state of his residence required his attendance at school, or at any time during the hours when the public schools in the district in which employment in such occupation or services may be available are in session.
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34:2-21.2a. Repealed by L.1962, c. 91, §10
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34:2-21.3. Minors under 18; hours of labor
Except as provided in section 15 of P.L.1940, c. 153 (C.34:221.15) and except for domestic service or messengers employed by communications companies subject to the supervision and control of the Federal Communications Commission, no minor under 18 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with any gainful occupation more than six consecutive days in any one week, or more than 40 hours in any one week, or more than eight hours in any one day, nor shall any minor under 16 years of age be so employed, permitted, or suffered to work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. of any day, except a minor who is 14 or 15 years of age may work in a restaurant, supermarket or other retail establishment, or in any occupation not prohibited by the provisions of this act, P.L.1940, c. 153 (C.34:221.1 et seq.) or by regulations promulgated by the commissioner pursuant to this act, P.L.1940, c. 153 (C.34:221.1 et seq.), during the period beginning on the last day of a minor's school year and ending on Labor Day of each year until 9 p.m. of any day with written permission from a parent or legal guardian, and except a minor who is 14 or 15 years of age may be employed as a little league umpire for little leagues chartered by Little League Baseball, Incorporated, until 9 p.m. of any day with written permission from a parent or legal guardian; nor shall any minor between 16 and 18 years of age be so employed, permitted, or suffered to work before 6 a.m. or after 11 p.m. of any day; provided that minors between 16 and 18 years of age may be employed after 11 p.m. during any regular vacation season, and on days which do not precede a regularly scheduled school day, with a special written permit from their parents or legal guardian stating the hours they are permitted to work; provided that minors between 16 and 18 years of age may be employed in a seasonal amusement or restaurant occupation after 11 p.m. and following 12:01 a.m. of the next day, if that employment is a continuation of a workday which began before 11 p.m., either during any regular school vacation season, or on workdays which do not begin on a day which precedes a regularly scheduled school day, with a special written permit from their parents or legal guardian stating the hours they are permitted to work, except that in no case shall minors between 16 and 18 years of age be employed after 3 a.m. or before 6 a.m. on a day which precedes a regularly scheduled school day; provided, further, that minors may be employed in a concert or a theatrical performance up to 11:30 p.m.; and provided, further, that minors not less than 16 years of age and who are attending school may be employed as pinsetters, lane attendants, or busboys in public bowling alleys up to 11:30 p.m., but may not be so employed during the school term without a special written permit from the superintendent of schools or the supervising principal, as the case may be, which permit shall state that the minor has undergone a complete physical examination by the medical inspector, and, in the opinion of the superintendent or supervising principal, may be so employed, without injury to health or interference with progress in school, such special permits to be good for a period of three months only and are revocable in the discretion of the superintendent or supervising principal. Such permit may not be renewed until satisfactory evidence has been submitted to the superintendent or supervising principal showing that the minor has had a physical examination and the minor's health is not being injured by said work; and provided, further, that minors between 16 and 18 years of age may not be employed after 10 p.m. during the regular school vacation seasons in or for a factory or in any occupation otherwise prohibited by law or by order or regulation made in pursuance of law. The hours of work of minors under 16 employed outside school hours shall not exceed three hours in any one day when school is in session and shall not exceed in any one week when school is in session the maximum number of hours permitted for that period under the federal "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938," 29 U.S.C.s.201 et seq., and regulations promulgated pursuant to that federal act.
This section is not applicable to the employment of a minor between 16 and 18 years of age during the months of June, July, August or September by a summer resident camp, conference or retreat operated by a nonprofit or religious corporation or association, unless the employment is primarily general maintenance work or food service activities.
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34:2-21.4. Lunch period for minors under 18
No minor under eighteen years of age shall be employed or permitted to work for more than five hours continuously without an interval of at least thirty minutes for a lunch period, and no period of less than thirty minutes shall be deemed to interrupt a continuous period of work.
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34:2-21.5. Posting of law, list of prohibited occupations and schedule of hours of labor; permitting minors to begin later or stop earlier than time stated in schedule
Every employer shall post and keep conspicuously posted in the establishment wherein any minor under 18 is employed, permitted, or suffered to work a printed abstract of this act and a list of the occupations prohibited to such minors, to be furnished by the Department of Labor, and a schedule of hours of labor which shall contain the name of each minor under 18 the maximum number of hours he shall be required or permitted to work during each day of the week, the total hours per week, the time of commencing and stopping work each day, and the time for the beginning and ending of the daily meal period. An employer may permit such minor to begin work after the time for beginning, and stop before the time for ending work stated in the schedule; but he shall not otherwise employ or permit him to work except as stated in the schedule. This schedule shall be on a form provided by the Department of Labor and shall remain the property of that department. Nothing in this section shall apply to the employment of minors in agricultural pursuits or in domestic service in private homes, or as newspaperboys as provided in this act.
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34:2-21.6. Record of employment of minors under 19
Every employer shall keep a record, in a form approved by the Department of Labor, which shall state the name, date of birth and address of each person under 19 years of age employed, the number of hours worked by said person on each day of the week, the hours of beginning and ending such work, the hours of beginning and ending meal periods, the amount of wages paid, and such other information as the department shall by regulation require. Such record shall be kept on file for at least 1 year after the entry of the record and shall be open to the inspection of the Department of Labor, of attendance officers and of police officers. Nothing in this section shall apply to the employment of minors in agricultural pursuits, or in domestic service in private homes, or as newspaperboys as provided in this act.
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34:2-21.7. Employment certificate or special permit from issuing officer of school district
(a) Except as permitted under section 15 of this act, no minor under 18 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with any gainful occupation, unless and until the person employing such minor shall procure and keep on file an employment certificate or special permit for such minor, issued by the issuing officer of the school district in which the child resides, or of the district in which the child has obtained a promise of employment if the child is a nonresident of the State; provided, that:
(1) No certificate or special permit shall be required for any child 16 years of age or over employed in agricultural pursuits;
(2) No certificate or special permit shall be required for any child 14 years of age or over employed at such times as the schools of his district are not in session, at any agricultural fair, horse, dog, or farm show the duration of which does not exceed 10 days; and
(3) No vacation certificate shall be required in the first 14 days of employment for any minor 15 years of age or over employed in seasonal amusement, food service, restaurant or retail occupations, at such times as the schools of his district are not in session, provided that no minor under 16 years of age shall be permitted to operate, or service, or to work in, about, or in connection with power-driven machinery.
(b) The employment covered under this section shall not require or involve work in, about, or in connection with employments prohibited by P.L.1970, c. 115 (C. 34:2-21.15) and P.L.1973, c. 204 (C. 34:2-21.17) of the child labor laws.
(c) Such certificate or special permit shall be issued in triplicate in such form and in accordance with such instructions as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. The Commissioner of Education shall supply to the issuing officers all blank forms to be used in connection with the issuance of such certificates, and special permits as provided for in section 15 of this act.
(d) Employment certificates shall be of two kinds, regular certificates permitting employment during school hours, and vacation certificates permitting employment during the school vacation and during the school term at such times as the public schools are not in session.
(e) The original copy of the employment certificate shall be mailed by the issuing officer to the prospective employer of the minor for whom it is issued; a duplicate copy shall be mailed to the Department of Labor in Trenton as provided in section 12 of this act, and a triplicate copy shall be kept in the files of the issuing officer. The issuing officer may refuse to grant a certificate, if in his judgment, the best interests of the minor would be served by such refusal and he shall keep a record of such refusals, and the reasons therefor.
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34:2-21.8. Issuance of certificates; prerequisites
The issuing officer shall issue such certificates only upon the application in person of the minor desiring employment, and after having approved and filed the following papers:
(1) A promise of employment signed by the prospective employer or by someone duly authorized by him, setting forth the specific nature of the occupation in which he intends to employ such minor, the wage to be paid such minor, and the number of hours per day and days per week which said minor shall be employed.
(2) Evidence of age showing that the minor is of the age required by this act, which evidence shall consist of one of the following proofs of age and shall be required in the order herein designated, as follows:
(a) A birth certificate or certified transcript thereof or a signed statement of the recorded date and place of birth issued by a registrar of vital statistics or other officer charged with the duty of recording births, or
(b) A baptismal certificate or attested transcript thereof showing the date and place of birth, and date and place of baptism of the minor, or
(c) Other documentary evidence of age satisfactory to the issuing officer, such as a bona fide contemporary record of the date and place of the minor's birth kept in the Bible in which the records of the births in the family of the minor are preserved, or a passport, showing the age of the minor, or a certificate of arrival in the United States, issued by the Office of Immigration and Naturalization Services, showing the age of the minor, or a life insurance policy, provided that such other documentary evidence has been in existence at least 1 year prior to the time it is offered as evidence, and provided further that a school record of age or an affidavit of a parent or guardian or other written statement of age shall not be accepted, except as specified in paragraph (d) of this section.
(d) In the case none of the aforesaid proofs of age shall be obtainable and only in such case, the issuing officer may accept the school record or the school-census record of the age of the minor together with the sworn statement of a parent or guardian as to the age of the minor and also with a certificate signed by the physician or advanced practice nurse authorized to sign the statements of physical fitness required by this section, specifying what in his opinion is the physical age of the minor. Such certificates shall show the height and weight of the minor and other facts concerning his physical development which were revealed by such examination and upon which the opinion of the physician or advanced practice nurse is based as to the physical age of the minor. If the school or school-census record of age is not obtainable, the sworn statement of the minor's parent or guardian, certifying to the name, date and place of birth of the minor, together with a physician's or advanced practice nurse's certificate of age as hereinbefore specified, may be accepted as evidence of age. The issuing officer shall administer said sworn statement.
The issuing officer shall, in issuing a certificate for a minor, require the evidence of age specified in paragraph (a) of this section in preference to that specified in paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of this section and shall not accept the evidence of age permitted by any subsequent paragraph unless he shall receive and file evidence that the evidence of age required by the preceding paragraph or paragraphs cannot be obtained.
(3) A statement of physical fitness, signed by a medical inspector employed by the applicable board of education, or any other physician licensed to practice medicine and surgery, or advanced practice nurse, setting forth that such minor has been thoroughly examined by such medical inspector, or such other physician licensed to practice medicine and surgery, or advanced practice nurse, that he either is physically fit for employment in occupations permitted for persons under 18 years of age, or is physically fit to be employed under certain limitations, specified in the statement. If the statement of physical fitness is limited, the employment certificate issued thereon shall state clearly the limitations upon its use, and shall be valid only when used under the limitations so stated. The method of making such examinations shall be prescribed jointly by the Commissioner of Education and the State Department of Health and Senior Services; provided, however, no minor shall be required to submit to a physical examination, whose parent or guardian objects thereto in writing on the grounds such examination is contrary to his religious beliefs and practices.
(4) A school record signed by the principal of the school which the minor has last attended or by someone duly authorized by him, giving the full name, date of birth, grade last completed, and residence of the minor, provided, that in the case of a vacation certificate issued for work before or after school hours, such record shall also state that the child is a regular attendant at school, and in the opinion of the principal may perform such work without impairment of his progress in school, but such principal's statement shall not be required for the issuance of a vacation certificate for work during regular school vacations.
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34:2-21.9. Age certificates to persons between 18 and 21; contents; retention by employer during employment
Upon request, it shall be the duty of the issuing officer to issue to any young person between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one years residing in his district and applying in person, who expresses a desire to enter employment, an age certificate upon presentation of the same proof of age as is required for the issuance of employment certificates under this act. A young person between the said ages nonresident of the State may apply to the issuing authority of any district where such person states he intends to seek employment. The age certificate shall state the color, name, sex, date and place of birth, residence, color of hair and eyes, height, and distinguishing facial marks, if any, and the kind of proof of age submitted.
All copies thereof shall be signed in person by the applicant in the presence of the said issuing officer in whose name it is issued.
Any employer before employing a minor may require him to produce an age certificate and sign his name for comparison with the signature on the certificate. If in his judgment the signature and characteristics of the child correspond with the signature and description in the certificate, the employer, on employing the child, may require and retain the certificate during the minor's employment and shall return it to the minor upon the termination of his employment.
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34:2-21.10. Employment certificate; contents
An employment certificate shall state the name, sex, color, date and place of birth, residence, color of hair and eyes, height, weight, any distinguishing facial marks of the child-the employer's name, address and type of business, the occupation of the child, the kind of proof of age submitted, the grade completed, physician's approval and the name and address of parent. Every such certificate shall be signed in the presence of the issuing officer by the child in whose name it is issued.
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34:2-21.11. Certificate or permit as conclusive evidence of age
An employment or age certificate or special permit issued in accordance with this act shall be conclusive evidence of the age of the minor for whom issued in any proceeding involving the employment of a minor under the child-labor or workmen's compensation law or any other labor law of the State, as to any act occurring subsequent to its issuance.
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34:2-21.12. Filing of duplicate certificates or permits; cancellation; return of original papers; destruction of certificates and permits when minors become 21
Every issuing officer issuing an employment or an age certificate or special permit, shall send immediately to the Department of Labor at Trenton, a duplicate of the certificate or permit and the original papers upon which the certificate or special permit was granted. The department shall examine and promptly return to the issuing officer the said original papers and shall keep on file the duplicate of said certificate or permit. Whenever there is reason to believe that an employment or an age certificate or special permit was improperly issued, the Commissioner of Labor shall notify the Commissioner of Education and the board of education of the school district in which the certificate was issued. The board of education of the school district may cancel any employment or any age certificate or special permit issued by it, and shall cancel the same when directed so to do by the Commissioner of Education. Whenever any employment certificate has been cancelled, the board of education canceling the same shall immediately notify the Commissioner of Education, the Commissioner of Labor and the person by whom the child is employed, of its action, and such employer shall immediately upon receiving notice forward the certificate to the board of education.
All birth certificates, baptismal certificates, passports, insurance policies or other original papers submitted in proof of age shall be returned to the minor upon request after they have been returned to the issuing officer by the Department of Labor and after the issuing officer has transcribed for his files information pertinent to the issuance of the certificates. The Commissioner of Labor and the issuing officer may destroy all employment and age certificates and special permits or copies thereof when the birth dates set forth in such certificates and special permits are more than twenty-one years before the date of destruction.
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34:2-21.13. Employment of children who are nonresidents of school district; duplicate of certificate
If a child within the ages for compulsory school attendance is employed in a school district other than that in which he lives, the issuing officer of the district in which the child lives shall immediately send a duplicate of the certificate, properly filled out and the address of the employer to the superintendent of schools of the county in which the child resides who shall thereupon send said duplicate to the superintendent of schools of the county in which the child is employed.
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34:2-21.14. Return of certificate after employment terminates; new certificates; certificate valid only for one employer and one occupation; employer to keep certificate accessible; prima facie evidence
Every employer receiving an employment certificate shall within two days after termination of the employment return said certificate to the person issuing it. A new employment certificate shall not be issued for any minor except upon the presentation of a new promise of employment. An employment certificate shall be valid only for the employer for whom issued and for the occupation designated in the promise of employment. Said employer shall, during the period of the minor's employment, keep such certificate on file at the place of employment and accessible to any issuing officer and to any attendance officer, inspector, or other person authorized to enforce this act. The failure of any employer to produce for inspection such employment certificate, or the presence of any minor under eighteen years of age in his place of work at any time other than that specified in the posted schedule of hours required by this act, shall be prima facie evidence of the unlawful employment of the minor. The presence of any minor under eighteen years of age in any place of employment shall be prima facie evidence of the employment of such minor, except that the presence on any farm or place of agricultural pursuit of any such minor shall not constitute such prima facie evidence.
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34:2-21.15. Street trade; agricultural pursuits; ages when permitted; special permits; newspaper carriers
Except as hereinafter provided as to newspaper carriers, no minor under 14 years of age may engage in any street trade, which term, for the purpose of this section shall include the selling, offering for sale, soliciting for, collecting for, displaying, or distributing any articles, goods, merchandise, commercial service, posters, circulars, newspapers or magazines or in blacking shoes on any street or other public place or from house to house. No minor under 12 years of age may be employed in agricultural pursuits.
Whenever a minor has graduated from vocational school, approved by the Commissioner of Education and is 17 years of age, the minor's diploma or certified copy thereof and an employment certificate mailed to the employer by the issuing officer shall be deemed a special permit to engage in those pursuits in which the minor majored in said vocational school during those hours permitted for persons 18 years of age and over.
Except as hereinafter provided as to newspaper carriers, whenever a minor under 16 years of age desires to work during such times as the schools of the district in which the minor resides are not in session in any street trade or in agricultural pursuits, the parent, guardian or other person having the custody and control of the minor may file with the issuing officer in the school district in which the minor resides an application for a special permit authorizing such work. Such application shall show the exact character of the work the minor is to do, and the hours and wages and special conditions under which said work is to be performed.
If upon investigation it is found that the facts set forth in the application are true and that the work will not interfere with the minor's health or standing in school, the issuing officer shall, upon presentation to the issuing officer of the same proof of age as is required for the issuance of an employment certificate, issue a special permit, allowing the minor to work at such times as the public schools in the district are not in session, but such work except in agricultural pursuits, and as newspaper carriers, to be otherwise subject to the maximum hours of labor provisions set for minors under 16 years of age in section 3 of this act; provided, that nothing in this act shall prevent newspaper carriers as defined in this act, between 11 and 14 years of age, from delivering, soliciting, selling and collecting for newspapers on routes in residential neighborhoods between the hours of 6:00 o'clock in the morning and 7:00 o'clock in the evening of any day; and newspaper carriers 14 years of age and older from delivering, soliciting, selling and collecting for newspapers on routes in residential neighborhoods between the hours of 5:30 o'clock in
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