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Comment by anonymouskimmer | Hacker News Reader

Sure it is. The Federal labor laws only apply to businesses engaged in interstate commerce (individual state laws apply locally). But even then exemptions are listed on page 5 of this non-copypastable PDF: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/chil...

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/youthrules/young-workers

If you are under the age of 14, you are only allowed to do the following jobs:

- Deliver newspapers to customers

- Babysit on a casual basis

- Work as an actor or performer in movies, TV, radio, or theater

- Work as a homeworker gathering evergreens and making evergreen wreaths; and

- Work for a business owned entirely by your parents as long as you are not employed in mining, manufacturing, or any of the 17 hazardous occupations.

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Yeah, child actors are often treated horrendously but we as a society still permit it for some reason. Many people have heard about how two children died because of unsafe conditions during the filming of The Twilight Zone movie. What often gets overlooked is that the two children, ages 6 and 7, were being forced to work through the night (the accident happened at 2:30 a.m.)[1]. If it hadn't been for the helicopter accident, no one would have known.

[1] https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-twilight-zone-the-movie-dea...

> Work as a homeworker gathering evergreens and making evergreen wreaths

I would love to know the history of that incredibly specific exemption.

Yeah, I can't find it. My best guess is from the statute itself:

https://www.govregs.com/regulations/expand/title29_chapterV_...

> § 780.1001 - General explanatory statement. Workers in rural areas sometimes engage, as a family unit, around the Christmas holidays, in gathering evergreens and making them into wreaths in their homes. Such workers, under well-settled interpretations by the Department of Labor and the courts, have been held to be employees of the firm which purchases the wreaths and furnishes the workers with wire used in making such wreaths.

I would guess that back in the day people made wreaths to raise funds for the family to pay for Christmas gifts and celebrations, or maybe for general purposes. This section seems to be from 1972, so yeah, I don't know what was happening in the 60s/70s to promote this exemption. Very much early gig economy though.

Public schools have been instituting in "gig work" before that even became a term.

I remember in my elementary years (5-11 year olds) that the school would 'force' (peer pressure, competition, punishment of class for you not doing, etc) kids to get fliers of absolute utter garbage merchandise at exorbitant prices, and then go door-to-door selling these items. And the public school would get some unknown kickback for sales.

I remember when my parents said no to this, the teacher in class said "Since tarotuser won't sell anything, the class can never get a pizza party".

But... as a worse thought, that would indicate that Instacart et al should be able to target any age group, since gig-work is endorsed by the public school system and technically isn't "employment". But we all know better.

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