News Release

ESA News Release: [02/05/2003]
Contact Name: Yvonne Ralsky
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676

Labor Department Signs on New YouthRules! Partner

National Council for Agricultural Employers Joins Effort to Ensure Safe and Rewarding Work Experiences for Young Workers

WASHINGTON—Tammy D. McCutchen, administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, has announced a “YouthRules!” partnership with National Council for Agricultural Employers (NCAE) to promote safe and rewarding work experiences for youth.

“I am delighted that NCAE has agreed to join our YouthRules! team,” said McCutchen. “Our partnership with NCAE will enable us to educate parents, employers and young workers in this important sector about the resources and protections that exist to ensure that teens have positive work experiences on farms across the country.”

YouthRules! is a public awareness campaign launched by U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao in May 2002 to help ensure safe and rewarding work experiences for young workers. The partnership with NCAE marks the expansion of YouthRules! into the agriculture sector. NCAE joins other national business associations, advocacy groups and state governments that have agreed to partner with the U.S. Labor Department to publish information about youth employment.

The YouthRules! Web site, www.youthrules.dol.gov, provides a gateway to information on the Internet about the hours young people can work, the jobs they can do and how to ensure safe work experiences.

McCutchen announced the alliance while addressing the 39^th annual meeting of the NACE in Washington, D.C. last week. During her remarks, she previewed new YouthRules! materials specific to agriculture, including a bookmark for young workers and an employers’ guide.

“The increased compliance assistance effort in agriculture is designed to promote the safe employment of young workers through public awareness, even though the agricultural industry may employ fewer young workers covered by child labor laws,” McCutchen said.

For more information about the laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, log on to the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov, or call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE.

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