Chapter 391

2005 -- H 5650 AS AMENDED

Enacted 07/19/05

 

A N A C T

RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

     

     

     Introduced By: Representatives Moura, Slater, Diaz, and McCauley

     Date Introduced: February 16, 2005

 

 

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

 

     SECTION 1. Sections 28-3-6, 28-3-9, 28-3-15 and 28-3-20 of the General Laws in

Chapter 28-3 entitled "Employment of Women and Children" are hereby amended to read as

follows:

 

     28-3-6. Certificates and permits kept by employer. -- All certificates of age and

permits required by this chapter relating to the qualification of children employed in any factory,

or manufacturing, or business establishment coming under the provisions of this chapter, shall be

kept by the employer at the place where the child is employed, and shall be shown to the

compliance inspectors provided for by chapter 20 of this title, or either or any of them, on

demand by the inspector or inspectors, and the proprietor or manager of any factory or

manufacturing or business establishment who shall fails to produce or shall refuses to show to

any compliance inspector any certificate or permit when demand is made for it, shall be deemed

guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten

dollars ($10.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00). therefore, shall be fined one hundred dollars

($100) for each offense.

 

     28-3-9. Employment of minors in hazardous places or occupations. -- No minor under

sixteen (16) years of age shall be employed or permitted to work in operations or operating or

assisting in operating any of the following machines: circular or bandsaws, wood shapers, wood

jointers, planers, sand paper or wood polishing machinery; picker machines or machines used in

picking wool, cotton, fur, hair, or any upholstering material; paper lace machines; burnishing

machines in any tannery or leather manufactory; job or cylinder printing presses, having motive

power other than foot; wood turning or boring machinery; stamping machines used in sheet metal

or tinware manufacturing or in washer and nut factories; machines used in making corrugated

rolls; steam boilers, dough brakes, or cracker machinery of any description; wire or iron

straightening machinery; rolling mill machinery, power punches, shears, or rolls in rubber

manufacturing drop presses; washing, grinding, or mixing machinery; calender rolls in rubber

manufacturing; laundering or dry cleaning machinery; or in any capacity in adjusting or assisting

in adjusting any belt to any machinery or in oiling or cleaning machinery in motion; or in any

capacity in preparing any composition in which dangerous or poisonous acids are used; or in the

manufacture or packing of paints, dry colors, or red or white lead; or in dipping, dyeing, or

packing matches; or in the manufacture, packing, or storing of powder, dynamite, nitroglycerine

compounds, fuses, or other explosives; or in stripping, assorting, manufacturing or packing

tobacco; or in a tunnel; or in a pool or billiard room; or upon any railroad, whether steam or

electric; or in any foundry; or in any place where dangerous belting or gearing is not provided

with proper safeguards; or in any work, occupation, place, or process declared by the department

of labor and training to be injurious, dangerous, or hazardous for minors under sixteen (16) years

of age. ; or on any docks, private or public, warehouses and storage rooms; dispensing gasoline or

other types of fuel, checking or changing of oil or other fluids, parking lot attendants; car washes

either by hand or machine (includes drying vehicles by hand.)

 

     28-3-15. Penalty for violation of provisions as to hours. Penalty for violation of

provisions of this chapter. -- Every person who willfully employs or has in his employ or under

his charge any person in violation of the provisions of sections 28-3-11 -- 28-3-14 this chapter,

and every parent or guardian who permits any child to be so employed, shall be fined not

exceeding twenty one hundred dollars ($20.00) ($100) for each offense.; provided, that any

employer, superintendent, overseer, or agent who violates any provision of section 28-3-14 shall

be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than one hundred dollars

($100). The certificates of age and the permits to work required by sections 28-3-2 and 28-3-3

shall be prima facie evidence of the age of a child upon trial of any person other than the parent or

guardian for the violation of sections 28-3-11 -- 28-3-14 this chapter.

 

     28-3-20. Penalty for violations generally. -- Except as otherwise specifically provided,

any person or corporation who: (1) employs a child under sixteen (16) years of age without the

permit required by section 28-3-3, (2) makes a false statement in regard to any part required by

the certificate, (3) violates any of the provisions of sections 28-3-1 -- 28-3-20, or suffers or

permits any child to be employed in violation of their provisions, shall be deemed guilty of a

misdemeanor and, on conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred

dollars ($500); fined five hundred dollars ($500) for each offense provided, however, that if a

child employed in violation of the provisions of sections 28-3-1 -- 28-3-30 is injured or killed in

the course of the employment, then this the above fine may be increased to an amount not

exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000). This ; and, provided further, however that this section

does not apply to that portion of section 28-3-6 which fixes the penalty for the refusal to show to

the inspector any certificate provided for in that section.

 

     SECTION 2. Sections 28-3-14, 28-3-21, 28-3-22, 28-3-23, 28-3-24, 28-3-25, 28-3-26,

28-3-27, 28-3-28, 28-3-29, 28-3-30 and 28-3-31 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-3 entitled

"Employment of Women and Children" are hereby repealed.

 

     28-3-14. Maximum continuous employment without mealtime. -- No man, woman, or

child shall be employed for more than six (6) hours at one time in a factory, workshop,

mechanical, or mercantile establishment without an interval of at least twenty (20) minutes for a

meal; but the man, woman, or child may be so employed for not more than six and one-half (6

1/2) hours at one time if the employment ends not later than 1:00 P.M. if he or she is then

dismissed from the factory, workshop, mechanical, or mercantile establishment for the remainder

of the day he or she may be so employed, or for not more than seven and one-half (7 1/2) hours at

one time if he or she is allowed sufficient opportunity for eating a lunch during the continuance of

the employment, and if the employment ends not later than 2:00 P.M. and he or she is then

dismissed from the factory, workshop, mechanical, or mercantile establishment for the remainder

of the day. This section does not apply to any telephone exchange where the operator during the

night is not required to operate at the switchboard continuously but is able to sleep during a

considerable part of the night.

 

     28-3-21. Vendors, bootblacks, and scavengers -- Minimum age. -- No boy under

twelve (12) years of age and no girl under sixteen (16) years of age shall, in any street or other

public place in any city having a population of over forty thousand (40,000) inhabitants, sell or

offer for sale any newspaper, magazine, periodical, or any other article, or exercise the trade of

bootblack or scavenger.

 

     28-3-22. Permit and badge required for minor in street occupation. -- No boy or girl

under sixteen (16) years of age shall, in any of the places mentioned or described in section 28-3-

21, perform any act mentioned or described in that section until a permit and a badge have been

issued to him or her by the truant officer of the city or town where he or she resides; and no boy

or girl shall in any of the places perform any of the acts provided in section 28-3-21 except while

wearing the badge in a conspicuous place on his or her clothing.

 

     28-3-23. Application for permit and badge -- Issuance -- Fee. -- A permit and badge

shall be issued only upon the application of the parent, guardian, or other person having the

custody of the boy or girl desiring the permit and badge, or, in case the boy or girl has no parent,

guardian or custodian, then upon the application of his or her next friend, an adult. The

application must be accompanied by a written statement of the principal of the school which the

boy or girl is attending, stating that the boy or girl is an attendant at the school, that he or she is,

in the opinion of the principal, of the normal development of the average boy of his or her age

and physically fit for the employment, and that the principal approves the granting of the permit

and badge to the boy or girl. The application and statement shall be placed on file with the truant

officer mentioned in section 28-3-22. If satisfied with the application and written statement of the

principal, the truant officer shall issue to the applicant a permit and a badge at cost and the money

received for the badges shall be paid by the truant officer over to the general treasurer within one

month after receipt to be turned in to the treasury of the state.

 

     28-3-24. Design and contents of permit and badge -- Not transferable. -- The permit

shall be numbered, shall give a sufficient description to identify the boy or girl, shall give the date

and place of birth of the boy or girl, his or her name and address, and the name and address of his

or her parents, guardian, custodian, or next friend, and shall state that the application and

statement required by section 28-3-23 have been duly filed and examined, and approved by the

truant officer issuing the permit. The badge shall be of metal and shall bear the number of the

permit and of the year for which it is issued. The permit and badge shall be valid during one

calendar year only. All badges shall be furnished by the department of elementary and secondary

education, and all badges issued in the same calendar year shall be of the same color, shape, and

design. New badges shall be issued annually, and the color or shape of the badges shall be

changed materially each year. No boy or girl to whom a permit or badge has been issued shall

give, sell, loan, or otherwise transfer the permit or badge to any person.

 

     28-3-25. Hours for carrying on street occupations by minors. -- No boy or girl under

sixteen (16) years of age shall, in any of the places mentioned or described in section 28-3-21,

perform any of the acts mentioned in that section or described after 9:00 P.M., before 5:00 A.M.,

or, unless holding an employment certificate, during the hours when the public schools in the city

or town in which the child resides are in session.

 

     28-3-26. Revocation or suspension of permit and badge. -- The permit and badge of

any boy or girl who gives, loans, sells, or otherwise transfers either his or her permit or badge, or

who violates any of the provisions of sections 28-3-21 -- 28-3-32, or who fails to comply with all

of the legal requirements concerning school attendance, or to whom the possession of a permit

and badge is, in the opinion of the principal of the school which he or she attends or of the truant

officer authorized to issue the permits, detrimental to his or her studies or well being, may be

revoked or suspended by the truant officer. Upon the revocation or suspension, the boy or girl

shall surrender the revoked or suspended permit and badge. The refusal of any boy or girl to

surrender his or her revoked or suspended permit and badge, or the performance by him or her of

any of the acts mentioned or described in section 28-3-21, in any of the places mentioned or

described in that section, after notice of the revocation or suspension of the permit and badge

shall be deemed a violation of sections 28-3-21 -- 28-3-32.

 

     28-3-27. Report by teachers of detriment by possession of permit and badge. -- The

principal of each school in which boys and girls under sixteen (16) years of age are pupils shall

keep a complete list of all boys and girls in his or her school to whom permits and badges have

been issued, and whenever in his or her opinion the possession of the permit and badge is

detrimental to the studies or well being of any boy or girl, the principal shall report his or her

opinion to the truant officer authorized to revoke the permit and badge of the boy or girl.

 

     28-3-28. Enforcement of provisions -- Complaint. -- The truant officers authorized by

section 28-3-22 to issue permits and badges, probation officers, the principals of all public

schools, and police officers shall enforce sections 28-3-21 -- 28-3-32. A complaint of a violation

of any of the provisions of those sections may be brought by any person; provided, however, that

if the offender is a child then proceedings against the child shall be by petition to the juvenile

court.

 

     28-3-29. Warning as to violations. -- Any child who violates any of the provisions of

sections 28-3-21 -- 28-3-32 shall be warned by an officer whose duty it is to enforce those

sections; and the parents, guardian, custodian, or next friend of the child shall also be warned by

the officer.

 

     28-3-30. Penalty for violations as to street occupations. -- Any person having control

over a child as parent, guardian, or otherwise who permits or suffers the child to violate any of the

provisions of sections 28-3-21 -- 28-3-32 shall, for each offense subsequent to the first offense, be

fined not more than five dollars ($5.00).

 

     28-3-31. Appropriations for badges. -- The general assembly shall annually appropriate

any sum that it may deem necessary for the purpose of purchasing the badges required to be

issued under sections 28-3-21 -- 28-3-32, and the state controller is authorized and directed to

draw his or her order upon the general treasurer for the payment of that sum upon receipt of

vouchers approved by the commissioner of elementary and secondary education.

 

     SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.     

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LC00138

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