Excessive Working Hours and Lack of Sufficient Breaks

Excessive Working Hours and Lack of Sufficient Breaks

Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch described working long hours, typically between 10 and 12 hours per day, and sometimes up to 16 hours. Most said they worked

50 to 60 hours a week. Most employers allowed them two or three breaks per day, including one 10 to 15 minute break in the morning and one in the afternoon, as well as a

30 to 60 minute lunch break in the middle of the day. However, some children told Human Rights Watch that employers did not allow children to take meaningful regular breaks during the work day or breaks even when children felt sick or in high heat. Many children said that some employers pressured them to work as quickly as possible.

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Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch worked five days per week; some worked fewer, and some reported working six or seven days per week during particularly labor intensive periods of the tobacco farming season. In some cases, children’s hours exceeded 70 hours per week.

Some children in each of the four states where Human Rights Watch did research stated that they sometimes worked long hours, more than 5 days per week, or without breaks in order to increase their earnings. However, most children described having little control over their hours day-to-day. Sometimes the labor contractor or grower expected them to work past dark or start work in early morning hours. If worksites were located far from children’s homes, they left home very early and came home late. Children told Human Rights Watch that sometimes they worked shorter days because the employer determined that the work had been completed or because the employer allowed workers to stop, in some cases due to heavy rain or high heat.

US federal law permits children to work in agriculture for unlimited hours, outside of school hours. In non-agricultural jobs, 14 and 15-year-olds cannot work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., except during the summer when they can work until 9 p.m.; and may not work more than 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day, and 40 hours in non-school week. 227

Working Long Hours Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report stated that they often started work at 6 or 7 a.m. and worked through the evening. Fourteen-year-old Marissa M., who worked in tobacco farming for the first time in 2013, described a typical work schedule among the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch: “We leave [for work] at 6 a.m., start [working] at 7 a.m., get out at 6 p.m.” 228 Some children in Kentucky reported working very late in the evening, either working until dark at the height of summer when the sun sets late in the day, or working after dark in tobacco curing barns during the fall and winter months.

Danielle S., 16, and Lazaro S., 15, who work for hire with their parents on tobacco farms in central Kentucky, told Human Rights Watch that they would sometimes work until 11

227 29 C.F.R. sec. 570.35. 228 Human Rights Watch interview with Sally G., 16, and Marissa G., 14, Wayne County, North Carolina, July 21, 2013

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