Work Permit For Minors

Chelsea - Injury doubts hampering season's start

All one can ever hope for heading into a bout of international fixtures is that all of our Chelsea representatives return fit and unscathed. That mantra applies particularly when the aforementioned bout of internationals takes place three days before the start of a new Premier League campaign.

The rioting across London over the past few days meant the authorities had little choice but to cancel the England friendly against the Netherlands, scheduled to be played at Wembley last night. Frank Lampard had already withdrawn from Fabio Capello's Three Lions squad after suffering from a throat infection, although he did return to Blues training yesterday. Ashley Cole and John Terry, the other England representatives, were also at Cobham. Lampard is expected to be well enough to start on Sunday.

However, the news emanating out of the Spanish camp was slightly more grim last night. Fernando Torres, Chelsea's record signing, lasted only a quarter of an hour into the World champions' defeat at the hands of Italy before being withdrawn after suffering concussion.

The striker was taken to a local hospital in Italy for a scan, however that move was considered only precautionary, and reports suggested he later rejoined the national team for their return to Madrid. Whether he will be fit for the trip to Stoke City on Sunday for Andre Villas-Boas' first game in charge as Blues boss remains to be seen.

Torres, however, is not the only injury concern for the new manager as he plans for the trip to the Brittania. The tabloids are reporting that Branislav Ivanovic, the Serbian defender, is out of the visit to Stoke with a thigh injury, after missing out on his national team's friendly this week against Russia.

That will leave the Blues worryingly thin on the ground at the back, as both David Luiz and Alex, the Brazilian defenders, have had interrupted pre-seasons, due to Copa America involvement and injury respectively. Slobodan Rajkovic remains without a work permit and so is unable to play any part, leaving youngsters Tomas Kalas and Nathaniel Chalobah as back-up.

Villas-Boas is also without the suspended Daniel Sturridge, while John Obi Mikel is struggling for fitness after picking up an ankle knock in the first half against Rangers last weekend.

Hiring Minors For Summer Work

Q: You asked the Wisconsin Builders Legal & Building Code Hotline where you can find information about the restrictions for minors that you may hire as summer help.

A: There are two main sources of law that address minors that are hired for summer help: (1) The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development; and (2) the U.S. Department of Labor.  There are specific requirements relating to the hours a minor may work and specific regulations as to the type of work (for example, prohibitions as to hazardous work) that they may do.

If you hire a minor, you are required to post the state approved poster regarding the hours that a minor may work.  Information about the poster and the poster may be obtained at the following website.  The poster provides information on what hours a minor may work in Wisconsin.

Information about work place posters:  http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dwd/posters.htm

Hours and Days of the Week Minors May Work:

http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dwd/publications/erd/pdf/erd_9212_p.pdf

In Wisconsin, employers must have a work permit on file for the minor being employed before they may allow the minor to begin work.  To obtain information about obtaining a work permit for a minor worker, you can call (608) 266-6860.

It is the responsibility of the work permit officer to check to see that the job for which the minor is being hired is one that the minor is legally allowed to do.  The permit will not be issued if the work is prohibited by law for the minor.

The best way to insure that you do not hire a minor to do prohibited work is to accurately and completely inform the work permit officer of the scope of duties the minor will have, and to insure that the minor stays within that scope of duties.  Some of the prohibitions that affect minors in the construction industry include a prohibition against work that involves a potential exposure to asbestos, certain excavating work, assisting in the operation of cranes, hoists, and high-lift trucks, operating, assisting, repair, oiling, etc., of circular or band saws, corner cutters, mitering machine, etc.

The prohibitions against hazardous work are very broad, and can lead to significant liabilities.  You should make sure you work closely with the work permit officer to insure that any duties that a minor may have do not violate the prohibitions.

You can review information about Wisconsin employment laws for minors at the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.  A link to its website is below.

The Complete Film Production Handbook

Protecting youth at work, health, safety, and development of working children and adolescents in the United States

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Handbook of federal statistics of children, Part I, number of children in the United States with their sex, age, race, nativity, parentage and geographic distribution

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