The Legislature has found that Alabama law has not kept pace with federal standards regulating the employment of minors to the extent that it has become increasingly difficult for employers to comply with conflicting state and federal child labor requirements.

Accordingly, numerous changes are necessary to make the child labor laws of Alabama compatible with the United States Department of Labor regulations governing the employment of minors in nonagricultural occupations. Similarly, there is also a need to remove anachronistic language and make clarifications to existing standards.

In view of the foregoing findings, the Legislature through this chapter intends to do all of the following:

(1) Conform with 17 federal hazardous orders.

(2) Remove exemptions for domestic service and the grading or handling, or both, of agricultural products.

(3) Add a restriction for occupations which involve working at heights exceeding six feet, as well as working in junk yards, scrap metal yards, or lumber yards.

(4) Set hour restrictions which coincide with federal law for 14- and 15-year-olds.

(5) Clarify waiver of school attendance which allows 14- and 15-year-olds to work until 9:00 p.m.

(6) Require employers to post hour restrictions and work schedules for employees under 18 years of age, and add a meal break requirement for 14- and 15-year-olds.

(7) Increase age requirements from 12 to 14 years of age to sell items on streets, and from 10 to 12 years of age to deliver newspapers.

(8) More clearly define prohibited occupations and places of employment for minors under 18 years of age.

(9) Prohibit persons under 18 years of age from performing nude or partially nude in any business establishment.

(10) Exempt federally funded summer youth program personnel from obtaining work permits.

(11) Add a driver's license which has a picture of the person to whom it was issued as evidence of age for a work permit.

(12) Add a 'whistleblower' provision protecting employees and other individuals from being discriminated against as a result of disclosing information, making a charge, or refusing to obey an illegal order.

(13) Increase the penalty for street trades violations from ten dollars ($10) to fifty dollars ($50) to one hundred dollars ($100) to five hundred dollars ($500) per violation.

(14) Require reporting of names of child models under 18 years of age, ensure that school performance will not suffer due to a child working, and place responsibility for care and schooling of a child on employers and parents.

No person under 16 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in any gainful occupation, except in agricultural service, and except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Any person 14 or 15 years of age may be employed outside school hours and during school vacation periods, so long as the person is not employed, permitted, or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with, any manufacturing or mechanical establishment, cannery, mill, workshop, or machine shop or in any occupation or place of employment otherwise prohibited by law. The presence of any person under 18 years of age in any restricted business establishment or restricted occupation shall be prima facie evidence of his or her employment therein.

The Alabama Department of Labor, hereinafter referred to as 'the department,' may declare any place or occupation dangerous to life or limb or injurious to health or morals of persons under 18 years of age.

No person under 16 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work at any of the following occupations, positions, or places:

(1) Operating or assisting in operating any sandpaper or wood polishing machinery, any washing, grinding, or mixing machinery, or commercial laundry equipment.

(2) Operating or assisting in operating any machines used in picking wool, cotton, hair, or any other material.

(3) In any work in or about a rolling mill, machine shop, or manufacturing establishment which is hazardous or dangerous to health, limb, or life.

(4) In proximity to any hazardous or unguarded gearing.

(5) Upon any vessel or boat engaged in navigation or commerce within the jurisdiction of this state.

(6) In the manufacture or packing of paints, colors, or white or red lead.

(7) In occupations causing dust in injurious quantities.

(8) In soldering, brazing, heat treating, or welding.

(9) In the building trades, except that persons 14 or 15 years of age who are members of the immediate family of the contractor may be employed in trades involving nonhazardous duties or occupations.

(10) Repairing, painting, or cleaning buildings or structures while working at the top of ladders, lifts, or scaffolds exceeding a height of six feet.

(11) In connection with a junk or scrap metal yard.

(12) Assorting, manufacturing, or packing tobacco.

(13) Operating any automobile, truck, or motor vehicle, or flagging or directing traffic.

(14) In airport hangars or landing strips or taxi and maintenance aprons.

(15) In connection with any lumberyard.

(16) In any place or occupation which the department declares dangerous to life or limb or injurious to the health or morals of persons under 16 years of age.

(a) No person 14 or 15 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in any gainful occupation for more than six days in any one week, or for more than 40 hours in any one week, or for more than eight hours in any one day, or before 7:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. during school summer vacation. During the time school is in regular session, no person 14 or 15 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in any gainful occupation for more than six days in any one week, or for more than eight hours on a non-school day, or more than three hours on a school day, or for more than 18 hours in any school week, and not before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m.

(b) No person 16, 17, or 18 years of age, who is enrolled in any public or private primary or secondary school system, shall work between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. on any night preceding a school day. The appropriate county or city superintendent of schools, or where there is no superintendent, the school headmaster, may grant exemptions to the above time restrictions. Exemptions shall be granted only when the individual circumstances are found to be in the best interests of the minor. Information of any exemptions granted shall be transmitted to a child labor inspector on a form authorized by him or her.

(a) No person under 16 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in any gainful occupation during the hours in which the public schools of the district in which the person resides are in session, unless the minor has completed the course of study required for secondary schools. Persons 14 or 15 years of age, when school attendance has been waived, may, upon recommendation of the superintendent of education in the area and approval by a child labor inspector, be issued a work permit for nonhazardous occupations.

(b) Employment authorized by this section shall not be for more than eight hours in any one day, or for more than 40 hours in any one week, or for more than six days in any one week, and not before 7:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.

(a) Every employer shall keep posted in a conspicuous place where any person under 18 years of age is employed, permitted, or suffered to work, a printed notice stating the maximum number of hours persons under 18 may be permitted to work on each day of the week as set out in Section 25-8-36. The printed form of the notice shall be furnished by the department. The employment of any person for a longer time period in any day so stated, or at any time other than as stated in the printed form of notice, shall be deemed a violation of this chapter.

(b) Each employer shall keep on or about the premises at which any person under 18 years of age is employed time records which shall state the number of hours worked each day, starting and ending times, and any other information the department may require. The employer shall keep these records on file for not less than one year.

(c) No person 14 or 15 years of age shall be employed for more than five hours continuously without an interval of at least 30 minutes for a meal or rest period. Any meal or rest period of less than 30 minutes shall not be considered to interrupt a continuous period of work.

No person under 14 years of age shall distribute, sell, expose, or offer for sale newspapers, magazines, periodicals, candy, or other articles, be employed or permitted or suffered to work in any other trade or occupation performed in any street or public place. Notwithstanding the foregoing, persons 12 years of age or older may engage in the delivery of newspapers on fixed routes.

(a) No person under 16 years of age shall engage in any of the occupations mentioned in Section 25-8-39 after 7:00 p.m. or before 5:00 a.m. of any day.

(b) No person, firm, or corporation shall employ, permit, or suffer a minor under 16 years of age to work at any of the occupations mentioned in Section 25-8-39 after 7:00 p.m. or before 5:00 a.m. of any day.

(c) No person under 18 years of age shall engage in any of the occupations mentioned in Section 25-8-39 unless he or she has secured and has with him or her a work permit as required by this section and he or she is a regular attendant at school.

The official charged with enforcement of this chapter may investigate each case in which he or she believes that the person holding a permit under Section 25-8-39 is not entitled to its possession, and if satisfied from the evidence obtained that the person has secured the permit through misrepresentation or fraud, the official may revoke the permit and return it to the official who issued it. Use of a permit shall be revoked or suspended by either the issuing officer or by any official charged with the enforcement of this chapter if the person's school record is not satisfactory to the principal of the school which he or she attends.

Any person who engages in any street occupation in violation of Sections 25-8-39, 25-8-40, or 25-8-41 may be deemed delinquent and brought before any court having jurisdiction over juvenile delinquents.

(a) No person under 18 years of age shall be employed or permitted or suffered to work at any of the following occupations, positions, or places:

(1) In or about or in connection with any mine, coke breaker, coke oven, or quarry in any capacity.

(2) In wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking.

(3) In any tunnel or excavation with a depth of four feet or more.

(4) In any roofing, scaffolding, or sandblasting operations.

(5) Operating or driving any truck or heavy equipment over three tons gross weight.

(6) In logging or around any sawmill, lath mill, shingle, or cooperage-stock mill.

(7) Operating any power-driven woodworking, bakery, or paper-products machinery.

(8) Upon any steam, electric, diesel, hydraulic, or other railroad.

(9) As firefighters.

(10) Operating any stamping machines used in sheet metal or tin ware, or in paper or leather manufacturing, or washer or nut factories.

(11) In or around any steam boiler or rolling mill machinery.

(12) Operating any power-driven metal forming, cutting, straightening, drawing, punching, or shearing machines.

(13) Operating or assisting in operating any elevators, open-freight elevators, cranes, derricks, or other power-driven hoisting apparatus, with the exception of an unattended automatic passenger elevator.

(14) Operating any paper cutting, stapling, corrugating, or punching machines.

(15) Assembling, adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or servicing machinery in motion.

(16) Operating any circular saws, band saws, or guillotine shears.

(17) In or around any distillery where alcoholic beverages are manufactured, bottled, wrapped, or packed.

(18) In the manufacture, storage, or transportation of explosive components.

(19) In the manufacturing of brick, tile, or similar products.

(20) In the manufacture or transportation of dangerous or toxic chemicals or compounds.

(21) In, about, or in connection with, poisonous dyes, dangerous or poisonous gases, compositions of lye in dangerous quantities, dangerous or poisonous acids, or pesticides.

(22) In any activity involving exposure to radioactive substances or ionizing radiation.

(23) Around asbestos or any other cancer-causing agents.

(24) Operating or assisting in operating any job, cylinder, or offset printing presses.

(25) In any activity involving slaughtering, butchering, and meat cutting.

(26) In any place or occupation which the department may declare dangerous to life or limb or injurious to the health or morals of persons under 18 years of age.

(b) This section shall not apply to persons 16 or 17 years of age enrolled in work-study, student-learner, cooperative education or similar programs in which the employment is an integral part of the course of study and is registered by the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training of the United States Department of Labor or to employment procured and supervised through the Alabama Department of Education and approved by the Alabama Department of Labor.

(a) No person under the state legal drinking age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to serve or dispense alcoholic beverages in any establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold, served, or dispensed for consumption on the premises.

(b) No person under 18 years of age shall work in that part of an establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold, served, or dispensed for consumption on the premises. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this section shall not prohibit the employment of persons 16 years of age or older as busboys, dishwashers, janitors, cooks, hostesses, or seaters restricted to leading patrons to seats; nor the employment of persons under 18 years of age as professional entertainers.

(c) Members of the immediate family of the owner or operator who are 14 or 15 years of age may be employed in such establishments provided they do not serve, sell, dispense, or handle alcoholic beverages.

(d) No person under 18 years of age shall work or perform in any establishment, nude or nearly nude, in a manner or attire as to expose any portion of the pubic area, buttocks, anus, anal cleft, vulva, or genitals, or any simulation thereof, or show the covered male genitals in a discernible turgid state, or be attired in a manner as to expose to view the portion of the breast below the top of the areola or any simulation thereof.

(a) No person under 18 years of age shall engage in any occupation mentioned in Section 25-8-39 unless he or she has secured and has with him or her a work permit as provided in this chapter.

(b) No person, firm, or corporation shall employ, permit, or suffer any person 14 or 15 years of age to work in any gainful occupation, except in agricultural service, unless the person, firm, or corporation procures and keeps on file for the inspection by the officials charged with the enforcement of this chapter, a work permit for every person 14 or 15 years of age and a complete list of those persons 14 or 15 years of age employed therein.

(c) No person, firm, or corporation shall employ, permit, or suffer any person 18 years of age to work in any capacity in, about or in connection with any mine, coke breaker, coke oven, or quarry, or any person 16 or 17 years of age to work in any other gainful occupation, except in agricultural service, unless the person, firm, or corporation procures and keeps on file work permits for those minors.

(d) A work permit, when issued in accordance with this chapter, shall be conclusive evidence of the age of the person for whom issued in any proceeding involving the employment of the person under this chapter.

(e) No work permit shall be required from June 1 through August 31 for those persons employed in a federally funded summer youth program; however, the hour and prohibited occupation restrictions shall not be waived.

(a) The county or city school superintendent, or headmaster or principal of a private school, shall issue all work permits. The superintendent, headmaster, or principal may designate in a letter to the department a school employee acting in his or her name to issue the permits. Only school principals, teachers, counselors, coordinators, or clerical personnel in a school or in the superintendent's office may issue permits. No person employed by any person, firm, or corporation employing minors may issue a permit.

(b) A work permit shall allow the employment of a person 14 or 15 years of age who is doing satisfactory school work to work only outside school hours or during vacation periods, and only in occupations not prohibited by this chapter for persons of these ages. A work permit shall allow the employment of a person 16 or 17 years of age to work in occupations not prohibited for persons of these ages by this chapter.

(c) Work permits shall be issued in triplicate and a copy of each permit issued during the month preceding shall be transmitted to the department with the report as provided in this chapter.

(a) The person authorized to issue work permits shall not issue any permit unless the minor personally makes application to him or her, and until he or she receives, approves, and files the following papers duly executed:

(1) A written statement of the person, firm, or corporation into whose service the minor is to enter to the effect that he or she intends to employ the minor. The statement shall give the nature of the occupation and the job duties for which the minor is to be employed.

(2) If the person is under 16 years of age and is to work outside school hours on school days, a school record signed by the principal or teacher of the school attended by the person to the effect that he or she is a regular attendant at school and is performing satisfactory school work.

(3) One of the following evidences of age, establishing the fact that the person is of the legal minimum age for the job in which he or she is to be employed, is required, preferably, in the order designated:

a. A certified copy of the person's birth certificate.

b. A certified copy of the person's baptismal record showing the date of birth and place of baptism.

c. A bona fide contemporary Bible record of birth.

d. A life insurance policy which has been in force for at least one year.

e. A passport or certificate of arrival in the United States which shows the age of the person.

f. Any valid driver's license from any state that has a photograph and displays the date of birth of the person to whom it was issued.

g. If, in any instance, the issuing officer authorized to issue the permits is satisfied that none of the above proofs of age can be produced and the parent, guardian, or custodian makes an affidavit that none of the above proofs of age can be produced by them, the issuing officer may use the minor's school record of age in conjunction with an affidavit of age sworn to by the parent, guardian, or custodian of the person and authorization from a child labor inspector.

(4) A statement signed and dated by the parent or guardian stating the minor's age and date of birth and approval of the employment duties as described by the prospective employer.

(b) The issuing officer may administer oaths for affidavits establishing age.

Work permits may be issued to persons 16 years of age or older without requiring school records and parental approval.

All work permits shall state the full name, place and date of birth of the minor, the name and address of the parent, guardian, or person sustaining the parental relationship to the person, and a statement dated and signed by the issuing officer that the minor personally has appeared before him or her and that proofs of age and other legal qualifications as required in this chapter have been submitted and filed. The printed form of work permits and other papers required in the issuing of work permits shall be drafted by the department and furnished by it to the local and county superintendents of education.

The county or city superintendent, or principal of schools, or if there is none, the headmaster, shall, between the first and tenth of each month, transmit to the department a copy of each work permit issued and a written monthly report, giving the name of each person to whom a work permit has been granted.

Any official charged with the enforcement of this chapter may cancel any work permit found to be illegally or improperly issued. When the permit is cancelled, the employer of the person for whom the permit is issued shall be notified, and thereafter it shall be unlawful to employ the person. The minor may be re-employed after a new permit is regularly issued.

The department shall have the right to enter, without prior notice or warrant, any business establishment for the purpose of routine inspections. These visits shall be conducted as frequently as needed to insure that minors are employed in compliance with this chapter. The department shall enforce this chapter and shall institute prosecution for any violation of this chapter.

Every school attendance officer shall report to the department every known violation of this chapter. School attendance officers shall have the same right of access to and inspection of establishments where minors are or may be employed or detained as is given by law to the department. A report of every entry and inspection of those establishments shall be made to the department. School attendance officers, when authorized by the department, may institute prosecutions.

Every person, firm, or corporation owning or controlling any establishment wherein minors are employed shall keep the establishment in a sanitary condition and properly ventilated, and shall provide suitable and convenient restrooms, separate for each sex, and in the number and locations required by the department. When 20 or more persons are employed, sanitary drinking fountains shall be provided in the number the department deems necessary. All restrooms shall be maintained inside the establishments, except in situations in which it is impracticable, in the opinion of the department.

The department shall inspect thoroughly every establishment wherein persons subject to this chapter are employed and shall issue a written order for the correction of unsanitary or unhealthy conditions in those establishments and shall report those conditions to public health officials.

The department shall remove from any establishment any minor found employed or working, contrary to law, or who is afflicted with any infectious, contagious, or communicable disease, or whose physical condition is such that it makes it hazardous for the person to perform the work.

(a) No person shall discriminate against any individual because the individual has opposed any act or practice made unlawful by this chapter or because the individual made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this chapter.

(b) No employer, agent of an employer, or any other person shall discharge or otherwise discipline, threaten, harass, blacklist, or in any other manner discriminate against an applicant, employee, former employee, or any other person because that individual disclosed any information not prohibited from disclosure by statute, refused to obey an illegal order, or in any other manner not prohibited by statute challenged or revealed any violation of this chapter.

Any person who sells, offers for sale, or furnishes any article of any description to a person under 16 years of age to be used for the purpose of sale or barter upon the streets or in any public place, shall first ascertain whether the minor has a work permit as required by this chapter. No article shall be sold or furnished to the minor person if he or she has no permit. Any person violating this section shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500). Police officers, school attendance officers, and other peace officers are authorized to enforce this section.

Any person, firm, or corporation who violates this chapter, or who fails or refuses to obey within a reasonable time any lawful order or direction given by the state officials charged with the enforcement of this chapter, and any parent, guardian, or custodian who suffers or permits a person under his or her care or control who is under 18 years of age to work in violation of this chapter, shall be deemed guilty of a Class B or C misdemeanor unless another penalty is specifically provided in this chapter. A first conviction shall be deemed a Class C misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500). A second or subsequent conviction shall be deemed a Class B misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).

Time and hour restrictions shall not be imposed upon, and no work permits shall be required for persons under 18 years of age who are employed as actors and performers. Persons may be employed and appear for the purpose of singing, acting, or performing in any studio or movie set of a motion picture approved and coordinated by the Alabama Film Office in conjunction with and under the jurisdiction and supervision of the department. A person under 18 years of age may be employed as provided in this section only under the following conditions and with the written consent of the Alabama Film Office, the department and the parent, legal guardian, or responsible adult of the person:

(1) The activities enumerated shall not be detrimental to the life, health, safety, welfare, or morals of the person.

(2) The activities enumerated shall not interfere with the schooling of the person and provisions shall be made for education equivalent to full-time school attendance in the public schools for persons under 16 years of age.

(3) A parent, guardian, or a responsible adult so designated by the parent or guardian, shall accompany each person under 16 years of age at all rehearsals, appearances, and performances.

(a) Time and hour restrictions shall not be imposed upon, and no work permits shall be required for persons under 18 years of age who are employed as models. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no person under 16 years of age shall work any hours that interfere with his or her school performance.

(b) Any person, firm, agency, or corporation that employs, permits, or suffers any person under 18 years of age to be used in any type of modeling shall have written consent from the parent or guardian of the person, and shall notify the Child Labor Division on a form authorized by the department, and shall comply with all of the following conditions:

(1) The parent of the person shall not let the modeling interfere with that person's school performance.

(2) The activities enumerated shall not be detrimental to the life, health, safety, welfare, or morals of the person.

(3) A parent, guardian, or a responsible adult so designated by the parent or guardian shall accompany each person under 16 years of age to all sessions.