PRINTER'S NO. 1097
No. 980 Session of 1995
INTRODUCED BY PICCOLA, FLEAGLE, PITTS, HUTCHINSON, CONTI,
SATHER, E. Z. TAYLOR, DEMPSEY, HENNESSEY, S. H. SMITH, CLARK,
CLYMER, EGOLF, BUNT, PETTIT, NAILOR, M. N. WRIGHT, LEH,
ARMSTRONG, HERSHEY, SERAFINI, FARGO, MASLAND, FARMER, CARONE,
DRUCE, L. I. COHEN, CHADWICK, MILLER, FLICK, MARSICO, GEIST,
RUBLEY, NICKOL, SAYLOR, MERRY, HESS, B. SMITH AND
STRITTMATTER, MARCH 6, 1995
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LABOR RELATIONS, MARCH 6, 1995
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 18, 1937 (P.L.665, No.176), entitled "An
2 act relating to the performance of industrial work in homes;
3 regulating, and in certain cases prohibiting, industrial
4 homework; imposing duties, restrictions and liabilities on
5 industrial home-workers and on persons, partnerships,
6 associations and corporations, directly or indirectly
7 furnishing materials and articles to home-workers for
8 manufacture or work thereon; requiring permits and home-
9 workers' certificates and prescribing the fees therefor;
10 conferring powers and imposing duties on the Department of
11 Labor and Industry; and prescribing penalties," changing the
12 purpose of the act; further regulating the performance of
13 industrial work in homes; providing for Federal preemption;
14 and making editorial changes.
15 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
16 hereby enacts as follows:
17 Section 1. Section 1 of the act of May 18, 1937 (P.L.665,
18 No.176), known as the Industrial Homework Law, amended November
19 24, 1976 (P.L.1196, No.263), is amended to read:
20 Section 1. Legislative Purpose.--This State has long
21 recognized that employment of men, women and children under
1 conditions detrimental to health and general welfare results in
2 injury, not only to the workers immediately affected, but also
3 to the public interest as a whole. This recognition has produced
4 a broad program of regulatory legislation to conserve the public
5 welfare. The continuance of an unregulated industrial homework
6 system in this State runs counter to that program since it is
7 usually accompanied by excessively low wages, long and irregular
8 hours, and unsanitary or otherwise inadequate working quarters.
9 In enacting this act, the Legislature [stated] states that
10 unregulated industrial homework [was] is harmful to society as a
11 whole, to the industrial homework work force, and to workers in
12 factory industries forced to compete against the lower wages and
13 less salutary working conditions characteristic of industrial
14 homework. The Legislature [concluded] concludes that
15 ["industrial homework must eventually be abolished."] industrial
16 homework must be regulated. It is the aim of this act to achieve
17 that goal, and eliminate the pernicious [influence] effects of
18 industrial homework on the people of this State, by [abolishing]
19 regulating industrial homework [except when it is engaged in by
20 certain types of individuals unable to leave their homes to
21 work, as hereinafter specified].
22 Section 2. Section 5 of the act is amended to read:
23 Section 5. Power to Prohibit.--(a) The department shall have
24 the power, upon its own initiative, to make an investigation of
25 any industry or that portion or branch of any industry which
26 employs home-workers, in order to determine:
27 (1) Whether the [wages and] conditions of employment are
28 injurious to the health and welfare of home-workers in such
29 industry or portion or branch; or
30 (2) Whether the payment of wages [and conditions of
19950H0980B1097 - 2 -
1 employment prevailing] in such industry or portion or branch
2 have the effect of rendering unduly difficult the maintenance of
3 existing labor standards, or the observance and enforcement of
4 labor standards established by law, or regulation [for the
5 industry of which such portion or branch is a part, thus
6 jeopardizing wages or working conditions of the factory workers
7 in such industry].
8 (b) If, on the basis of information in its possession, [with
9 or without an investigation as provided in this section,] the
10 department shall find that industrial homework cannot be
11 continued within any industry or portion or branch of any
12 industry without injuring the health and welfare of the home-
13 workers [within that industry], or without rendering unduly
14 difficult the maintenance of existing labor standards or the
15 observance and enforcement of labor standards established by law
16 for [the protection of the factory workers in] that industry,
17 the department shall, by order, require all employers,
18 representative contractors, or contractors in such industry or
19 portion or branch to discontinue the furnishing within this
20 Commonwealth of articles or materials for industrial homework,
21 and no permit issued under this act shall be deemed thereafter
22 to authorize the furnishing of articles, or materials for
23 industrial homework prohibited by such order.
24 (c) All power machines used in conduct of industrial
25 homework shall be guarded in accordance with the laws and
26 regulations of the Department of Labor and Industry.
27 Section 3. Sections 11 and 13 of the act, amended November
28 24, 1976 (P.L.1196, No.263), are amended to read:
29 Section 11. Home-Worker's Certificate.--(a) Every person
30 desiring to engage in industrial homework within this
19950H0980B1097 - 3 -
1 Commonwealth must procure from the department a home-worker's
2 certificate, which shall be issued without cost and which shall
3 be valid for a period of one year from the date of its issuance,
4 unless sooner revoked or suspended by action of the department
5 [or, under subsection (f) of this section, automatically].
6 Application for such certificate shall be made in such form as
7 the department may by regulation prescribe and must be remade
8 each year. Such certificate shall be valid only for work
9 performed by the applicant himself in his own home, and in
10 accordance with the provisions of this act.
11 (b) No home-worker's certificate shall be issued:--
12 (1) To any person under the age of sixteen years; or
13 (2) To any person known to be suffering from an infectious,
14 contagious, or communicable disease, or known to be living in a
15 home that is not clean, sanitary and free from infectious,
16 contagious, or communicable diseases.
17 [(3) To any person, unless that person is unable to leave
18 his home to work on account of:
19 (i) his own physical handicap, if that handicap has lasted
20 for more than thirty consecutive days; or
21 (ii) his own illness, if that illness has lasted for more
22 than thirty consecutive days; or
23 (iii) the necessity of caring for a member of his family who
24 is ill or handicapped, if that illness and/or handicap and
25 necessity has lasted for more than thirty consecutive days.]
26 (c) [It shall be the duty of each applicant for a home-
27 worker's certificate to prove his eligibility for a certificate
28 by presenting evidence of handicap or illness of himself or
29 illness or handicap of a family member sufficient to prove to
30 the department that he qualifies for a home-worker's certificate
19950H0980B1097 - 4 -
1 under one of the exceptions set forth in subsection (b)(3) of
2 this section.] The department shall be empowered to require any
3 applicant for a home-worker's certificate[,] or any family
4 member of any applicant for a home-worker's certificate [upon
5 whose illness an applicant is relying in order to obtain a
6 certificate,] to submit to a medical examination by a physician
7 of the department's choosing in order to aid the department in
8 making a decision on whether or not to issue a certificate.
9 (d) Whenever a physical examination by a physician is
10 necessary, in order for a person to qualify for or to retain a
11 home-worker's certificate, if the person is working, or has been
12 promised work on the condition that he obtain a home-worker's
13 certificate, it shall be the duty of the employer,
14 representative contractor, or contractor for which the person is
15 working or by which the person has been promised work, to pay
16 the cost of the physical examination.
17 (e) Every certificate shall contain the following
18 information, in addition to any information which the department
19 shall, by regulation, require:
20 (1) The home-worker's
21 (i) name,
22 (ii) address,
23 (iii) sex,
24 (iv) Social Security number,
25 (v) date of birth,
26 (vi) height,
27 (vii) weight,
28 (viii) eye color,
29 (ix) hair color; and
30 (2) The expiration date of the certificate[; and
19950H0980B1097 - 5 -
1 (3) The basis of the home-worker's eligibility for a
2 certificate, as set forth in subsection (b)(3) above.
3 (f) Upon the termination of the handicap, illness, or
4 necessity of caring for a family member who is ill or
5 handicapped which has qualified a person for a home-worker's
6 certificate under subsection (b)(3) of this section, that
7 person's certificate shall automatically be revoked].
8 (g) The department may revoke, or suspend any home-worker's
9 certificate if it finds that the holder is performing industrial
10 homework contrary to the conditions under which the certificate
11 was issued, or to any provision of this act, or has permitted
12 any person not holding a valid home-worker's certificate to
13 assist him in performing his industrial homework or has obtained
14 the certificate through fraud or misrepresentation.
15 (h) The department shall keep records of the applications
16 made and certificates issued under this section, and of all
17 information contained thereon.
18 [(i) Notwithstanding any provisions of this act to the
19 contrary, a special home-worker's certificate may be issued to a
20 person who does not qualify for a certificate under subsections
21 (b)(3) and (c) if the person meets the other qualifications of
22 subsection (b) and if the person has been employed fulltime for
23 a period of at least six months in the manufacture of shoes, and
24 is unable to continue his factory employment, if the following
25 conditions are met:
26 (1) The special certificate holder may perform homework only
27 for an employer which operates a factory in which shoes are
28 manufactured, and which does not have more than five percent of
29 its employes engaged in the manufacture of shoes in industrial
30 homework.
19950H0980B1097 - 6 -
1 (2) The homework performed by the special certificate holder
2 must be part of the manufacturing process of shoes.
3 (3) The special certificate holder must be paid the same
4 wages and receive the same benefits as the employer pays or
5 affords to employes in its factory who perform similar work.
6 (4) The employer must deliver and pick up all the materials
7 used in or produced by homework at the home of the special
8 certificate holder without charge to the home-worker.
9 (5) All machinery, equipment, and materials used in the
10 manufacture of goods by the special certificate holder must be
11 supplied to the special certificate holder and maintained by the
12 employer without charge to the home-worker.
13 A certificate issued under authority of this subsection shall
14 bear a mark indicating that it permits its holder to engage in
15 homework only in the shoe manufacturing industry. The provisions
16 of this act shall govern the issuance and use of a special home-
17 worker's certificate insofar as they do not conflict with this
18 subsection. The use of a special home-worker's certificate in
19 violation of this act shall automatically revoke the
20 certificate.
21 (j) Notwithstanding any provisions of this act to the
22 contrary, a special home-worker's certificate may be issued to a
23 person who does not qualify for a certificate under subsections
24 (b)(3) and (c) if the person meets the other qualifications of
25 subsection (b), has been employed fulltime for a period of at
26 least one month in the manufacture of brushes, is unable to
27 continue his factory employment, and if the following conditions
28 are met:
29 (1) The special certificate holder performs homework only
30 for an employer operating a factory in which brushes are
19950H0980B1097 - 7 -
1 manufactured who does not have more than thirty per cent of its
2 employes engaged in the manufacture of brushes in industrial
3 homework.
4 (2) The homework performed by the special certificate holder
5 is part of the process of manufacturing brushes.
6 (3) The employer delivers and picks up all the materials
7 used in or produced by homework at the home of the special
8 certificate holder without charge to the home-worker.
9 (4) All machinery, equipment, and materials used in the
10 manufacture of goods by the special certificate holder is
11 supplied to the special certificate holder and maintained by the
12 employer without charge to the home-worker.
13 A certificate issued pursuant to this subsection shall bear a
14 mark indicating that it permits its holder to engage in homework
15 only in the brush manufacturing industry. The provisions of this
16 act shall govern the issuance and use of a special home-worker's
17 certificate insofar as they do not conflict with this
18 subsection. The use of a special home-worker's certificate in
19 violation of this act shall automatically revoke the
20 certificate.]
21 Section 13. Conditions of Manufacture.--Industrial homework
22 on articles or materials manufactured for any person to whom an
23 employer's permit has been issued shall be performed:--
24 (a) Only by a person possessing a valid home-worker's
25 certificate.
26 (b) Only by persons over the age of sixteen years.
27 (c) Only by persons resident in the home in which the work
28 is done.
29 (d) Only during such hours as may be fixed by law or
30 regulation as permissible hours of labor in factories by persons
19950H0980B1097 - 8 -
1 of the same age [and sex] as the home-worker[; and].
2 (e) Only in a home that is clean and sanitary and free from
3 any infectious, contagious, or communicable disease.
4 (f) Only [by persons who are incapable of leaving their
5 homes to work because of one of the reasons stated in section
6 11(b) (3).] for the same wages and the same benefits as the
7 employer pays or affords to employes who perform similar work in
8 the employer's factory.
9 (g) Only with manufacturing machinery, equipment and
10 materials supplied and maintained by the employer without charge
11 to the home-worker.
12 Upon the issuance of an employer's permit to an employer, or
13 representative contractor, or a contractor's permit to a
14 contractor, such employer, representative contractor, or
15 contractor, shall be deemed to have accepted responsibility for
16 the observance of the conditions of manufacture specified by
17 this section; and each of such conditions shall be deemed to be
18 a condition of the employer's or contractor's permit to the same
19 extent as though it were expressly set forth therein.
20 Section 4. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
21 Section 21.2. Federal Jurisdiction.--(a) This act shall not
22 apply to an employer, contractor or representative contractor
23 who, but for this act, is subject to the provisions of the Fair
24 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et
25 seq.) and would be granted a certificate and authorized to
26 employ home-workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
27 and its regulations relating to industrial homework.
28 (b) Home-workers are subject to the same jurisdictional
29 statutes and regulations as the person by whom they are
30 employed.
19950H0980B1097 - 9 -
1 Section 5. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
L19L43VDL/19950H0980B1097 - 10 -