Work Permit and Death and Injury Reporting Systems in Selected States
HRD-92-44FS: Published: Mar 16, 1992. Publicly Released: Mar 16, 1992.
- Full Report:
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO compared how state certification procedures for child labor differ from the federally-mandated child labor work permit system that would be established under the Child Labor Amendments of 1992, focusing on: (1) how state work permit systems in three states differ from the type of system that the proposed legislation would require; and (2) changes those states would need to make to comply with the proposed requirements.
GAO found that: (1) in each of the three case study states, Arkansas, California, and Texas, state child labor certification and data reporting requirements differ in some respects from those proposed; (2) under the proposed legislation, all employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act would be required to report injuries to minors rather than just those covered by the state workers' compensation system; (3) of the 50 states' workers' compensation law employer reporting requirements only 5 states use the same reporting criteria as those proposed, 40 states use criteria more stringent, and 5 states use less stringent criteria; (4) employers' would be required to report to the designated state agency within 10 days of learning of any employee work-related fatality or injury; (5) 42 states use the same or more stringent criteria for the timeliness of injury reports, while 8 states use less stringent criteria than those proposed; and (6) to comply with the proposed requirements, all three states would have to make changes to their certification and reporting requirements.