CHILD LABOR

child labor.The employment of workers under the age of majority. • This term typically focuses on abusive practices such as exploitative factory work; slavery, sale, and trafficking in children; forced or compulsory labor such as debt bondage and serfdom; and the use of children in prostitution, pornography, drug-trafficking, or anything else that might jeopardize their health, safety, or morals. Some writers restrict the term to activities forbidden by the International Labor Organization’s minimum-age conventions. See ILO Minimum Age Con-vention ch. 138 (1973). See FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT. Cf. CHILD WORK. oppressive child labor.Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the employment of workers under the age of 16 in any occupation, or the employment of those 16 to 18 years old in particularly hazardous occupations. 29 USCA § 203(l); 29 CFR § 570.1(b). The Secretary of Labor may assess civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation. 29 USCA § 216(e). — Also termed harmful child labor. [Blacks Law 8th]