Issuance.

EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES.

Acts of 1913, Chapter 779, Section 16.1

An employment certificate shall be issued only by the superintendent of schools or by a person authorized by him in writing, or, where there is no superintendent of schools, by a person authorized in writing by the school committee, of the city or town where the child to whom it is issued resides during his employment, or in case the child resides outside the commonwealth, of the city or town in which the child is to be employed: provided, that no member of a school committee or other person authorized as aforesaid shall have authority to issue such certificate for any child then in, or about to enter, such person's own employment or the employment of a firm or corporation of which he is a member, officer or employee.

The person issuing employment certificates shall in each case, before issuing a certificate, receive, examine, approve and file the following papers, duly executed:

(1) A pledge or promise signed by the employer or by an authorized manager or superintendent, setting forth the character of the employment, the number of hours per day during which the child is to be regularly employed and the name and address of the employer, in which pledge or promise the employer agrees to employ the child in accordance with the provisions of this act, and to return the employment certificate as provided in section fifty-seven.

(2) The school record of such child, properly filled out and signed as hereinafter provided.

(3) A certificate signed by a school or family physician, or by a physician appointed by the school committee, stating that the child has been thoroughly examined by said physician and, in his opinion, is in sufficiently sound health and physically able to perform the work which the child intends to do.

(4) Evidence of age showing that the child is fourteen years of age, which shall consist of one of the following proofs of age: (a) A birth certificate, or a duly attested transcript thereof,

1 See Appendix.

made by a registrar of vital statistics or other officer charged with the duty of recording births.

(b) A baptismal certificate, or a duly attested transcript thereof, showing the age and date of baptism of the child.

(c) In case none of the aforesaid proofs of age is obtainable, and only in such case, the person issuing employment certificates may accept in lieu thereof a passport or a duly attested immigration record, or transcript thereof, showing the age of the child, or other official or religious record of the child's age: provided, that it shall appear to the satisfaction of said person that the same is good and sufficient evidence of the child's age.

(d) In case none of the aforesaid proofs of age is obtainable, and only in such case, the person issuing employment certificates may accept in lieu thereof a record of age as given on the register of the school which the child first attended in the commonwealth: provided, that such record was kept for at least two years during the time when such child attended school.

(e) In case none of the aforesaid proofs of age is obtainable, and only in such case, the person issuing employment certificates may receive the signed statement of the school physician, or of the physician appointed by the school committee, stating that, after examination, it is the opinion of such physician that the child is at least fourteen years of age. Such physician's statement shall be accompanied by a statement signed by the child's parent, guardian or custodian, or in case such child has no parent, guardian or custodian, the signed statement of the next adult friend. Such signed statement shall contain the name, date and place of birth and residence of the child, and shall certify that the parent, guardian, custodian or next friend signing the statement is unable to produce any of the proofs of age specified in this section. Such statement shall be signed in the presence of the person issuing employment certificates by the parent, guardian, custodian, or next friend. The person issuing employment certificates may, before issuing a certificate, require the parent, guardian, custodian, or next adult friend of the child to appear and approve in writing the issuance of said certificate.

Acts of 1913, Chapter 779, Section 18.

Contents. The employment certificate required by this act shall state the name, sex, date and place of birth and the place of residence of the child and describe the color of the hair and eyes and any distinguishing facial marks of the child. It shall certify that the child named in such certificate has personally appeared before the person issuing the certificate and has been examined and found to possess the educational qualifications enumerated in section one of chapter forty-four of the Revised Laws, as amended by section one of this act, and that all the papers required by section fifty-eight have been duly examined, approved and filed and that all the conditions and requirements for issuing an employment certificate have been fulfilled. It shall state the grade last completed by said child. Every such certificate shall be signed in the presence of the person issuing the same by the child in whose name it is issued. It shall state the name of the employer for whom, and the nature of the employment in which, the certificate authorizes the child to be employed. It shall bear a number, show the date of its issue and shall be signed by the person issuing it. No fee shall be exacted for an employment certificate or for any of the papers required by this act. Duplicate employment certificates shall not be issued until it shall appear to the satisfaction of the person authorized to issue certificates that the original certificate has been lost. A record giving all the facts contained on every employment certificate issued shall be filed in the office issuing the same, together with the papers required by section fifty-eight as amended. A record shall also be kept of the names and addresses of all children to whom certificates have been refused, together with the names of the schools which said children should attend and the reasons for refusal. All the aforesaid records and papers shall be preserved until such children, if living, shall have become sixteen years of age. Such records and statistics concerning the issuance of employment certificates as may be prescribed by the board of education shall be kept and shall be open to the inspection of said board, its officers or agents. The blank certificates and other papers required in connection with the issuing of em

ployment certificates and educational certificates under this act shall be designed by and furnished to the local school committees by the state board of labor and industries after conference with the board of education, and the approval of the forms thereof by the attorney-general. Said certificates and papers may bear such further and explanatory matter as may be needed to facilitate the enforcement of this act or to comply with future legislative requirements.

Acts of 1913, Chapter 779, Section 15.

Employment Certificates. No child between fourteen and sixteen years of age shall be employed or be permitted to work in, about or in connection with any factory, workshop, manufacturing, mechanical or mercantile establishment unless the person, firm or corporation employing such child procures and keeps on file accessible to the attendance officers of the city or town, to agents of the board of education, and to the state board of labor and industries or its authorized agents or inspectors, the employment certificate as hereinafter provided issued to such child, and keeps a complete list of the names and ages of all such children employed therein conspicuously posted near the principal entrance of the building in which such children are employed: provided, however, that children who are over fourteen but under sixteen years of age shall be permitted to work in mercantile establishments on Saturdays between the hours of seven in the morning and six in the evening, without such certificate. On termination of the employment of a child whose employment certificate is on file, said certificate shall be returned by the employer within two days after said termination to the office of the superintendent of schools from which it was issued.

Acts of 1913, Chapter 779, Section 22.

Inspection of Employment Certificates. Inspectors appointed by the state board of labor and industries, agents of the board of education and attendance officers may require that the employment or educational certificates and lists of children who are employed in factories, workshops, manufacturing, mechanical or mercantile establishments shall be produced for their inspec

tion. A failure to produce to any person authorized by this section who requests the same an employment or educational certificate or list required by law shall be prima facie evidence of the illegal employment of any person whose certificate is not produced or whose name is not so listed. A corporation or other employer, or any agent or officer thereof, who retains an employment or educational certificate in violation of the provisions of this act shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars.

Acts of 1914, Chapter 316.

Charging of Fees for Certificates prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any city or town clerk or other official to charge any fee for a certificate relating to the age or place of birth of any minor or to any other fact sought to be established in relation to school attendance, but such certificates shall be issued, upon request, by any city or town clerk.

EMPLOYMENT.

Acts of 1909, Chapter 514, Section 56, amended by Acts of 1913, Chapter 779, Section 14, and by Acts of 1913, Chapter 831.

Minors under Fourteen. SECTION 1. No minor under fourteen years of age shall be employed or permitted to work in or about or in connection with any factory, workshop, manufacturing, mechanical or mercantile establishment, barber shop, bootblack stand or establishment, public stable, garage, brick or lumber yard, telephone exchange, telegraph or messenger office or in the construction or repair of buildings, or in any contract or wage-earning industry carried on in tenement or other houses. No minor under fourteen years of age shall be employed at work performed for wage or other compensation, to whomsoever payable, during the hours when the public schools are in session or shall be employed at work before half-past six o'clock in the morning or after six o'clock in the evening.

Minors under Sixteen. SECTION 2. No minor under sixteen years of age shall be employed or permitted to work in operating or assisting in operating any of the following machines: (1) circular or band saws, (2) wood shapers, (3) wood jointers,