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Labrador introduces bill permitting minor
children
to work in family logging businesses |
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March 14, 2015 |
If your children are working with you in a
family-owned logging business, you may
technically be violating federal law. That
situation may be remedied, however, under
legislation proposed by Idaho Congressman Raúl
Labrador.
Mr. Labrador introduced a bill in Congress last
week that would allow family-owned timber
harvesters to train the next generation in one
of Idaho’s most important natural resource
industries.
Mr. Labrador's proposed legislation, H.R. 1215,
known as the Future Logging Careers Act, would
extend an exemption already applied to
agriculture and allow 16- and 17-year-old
children to work for their parents in the woods.
According to Mr. Labrador, timber harvesting,
like farming and ranching, is often a family
business where the practice of felling and
transporting timber from the forest to the mill
passes from generation to generation. He
believes the exemption in the Fair Labor
Standards Act for agriculture be applied also to
the timber industry.
"I first got the idea for this bill after
meeting with two Idaho loggers from
third-generation logging families, Tim
Christopherson of Kamiah and Mark Mahon of
Council. They worked in their family operations
as teenagers," said Congressman Labrador.
Christopherson started before he turned 18,
thinking the ag exemption applied to logging.
“If I hadn’t been able to work in the woods when
I was young, I wouldn’t have chosen this
career,” said Christopherson, whose family-owned
DABCO Inc. employs 18 workers.
Two years ago, Mahon’s son, J.T., was working
for the family-owned Tom Mahon Logging when a
U.S. Forest Service employee sent him home
because of the lack of an exemption. J.T. plays
football, basketball and runs track for the
Council High School Lumberjacks.
"He’s in better physical shape than I am,” said
Mark Mahon, vice president of the Associated
Logging Contractors of Idaho. “Working for their
families provides a path for young people to get
a taste of the industry. Once you get that in
your blood, it’s kind of hard to get it out.”
Tom Mahon Logging was started by J.T.’s
great-grandfather, Joseph. Tom Mahon, 71, still
works for the company, along with a second son,
Joe. The company employs 12 people in Adams
County, where unemployment reached 16 percent
during the Great Recession.
Mr. Labrador's Future Logging Careers Act is
endorsed by the American Loggers Council, which
represents harvesters in 30 states.
“We strive to operate safely and want to be able
to pass along this generation’s skills in
professional harvesting to our next generation,”
said Shawn Keough, executive director of the
Associated Logging Contractors of Idaho, and who
also serves as an Idaho State Senator. “This
bill will allow us to train those who wish to
follow in their family’s proud tradition. We
applaud Congressman Labrador for his
leadership.”
The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to
work in mechanized logging operations under
parental supervision. The proposed legislation
has nine original cosponsors from eight states,
including Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. This week,
Idaho GOP Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo
introduced a companion bill in the Senate, S.
694. |
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