Bill Text: NJ A4271 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Concerns employment of certain minors as runway or print models.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-06-24 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Labor Committee [A4271 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A4271-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ANGEL FUENTES
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns employment of certain minors as runway or print models.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the employment of certain minors as runway or print models and amending P.L.1962, c.91.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1962, c.91 (C.34:2-21.57) is amended to read as follows:
1. As used in this act:
a. "Professional employment" means employment for pay as an actor or performer in a theatrical production, or as a runway or print model.
b. "Theatrical production" means and includes stage, motion picture and television performances and rehearsals therefor.
c. "Prohibited performance" means and includes appearances as a rope or wire walker or rider, gymnast, wrestler, boxer, contortionist, acrobat, rider of a horse or other animal unless the minor is trained to safely ride such horse or animal or rider of any vehicle other than that generally used by a minor of the same age, or appearance in any illegal, indecent or immoral exhibition, practice, or theatrical production or in any practice, exhibition or theatrical production dangerous to the life, limb, health or morals of a minor, or appearance or exhibition of any physically deformed or mentally deficient minor.
(cf: P.L.1981, c.331, s.4)
2. Section 2 of P.L.1962, c.91 (C.34:2-21.58) is amended to read as follows:
2. Notwithstanding any provision of the child labor laws of this State, the professional employment of minors under the age of 16 years in theatrical productions or as a runway or print model is authorized upon compliance with the conditions in this act set forth.
(cf: P.L.1977, c.430, s.1)
3. Section 3 of P.L.1962, c.91 (C.34:2-21.59) is amended to read as follows:
3. a. Upon application of an employer, bearing the endorsed approval of a parent or guardian of the minor, a permit authorizing the professional employment of the minor [in a theatrical production] may be issued if:
(a) The minor is in good health and will not likely be endangered by the working conditions of the prospective professional employment as certified by a currently issued statement of a licensed physician based upon a physical examination which, for minors under 8 years of age, includes a visual acuity screening if practicable;
(b) The place of professional employment is approved by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the period for which the permit is desired is not in excess of 3 months;
(c) The minor is not attending public school and the application is for a period other than during the school summer vacation period, that he is receiving equivalent instruction approved by the Department of Education or by the state or county of his residence if he be a nonresident of New Jersey;
(d) The proposed professional employment will not exceed two shows or productions in a day or a total of eight shows or productions in any week where the professional employment is reasonably separable into discrete shows or productions; that the professional employment will not be for more than 6 days in any week, 5 hours in any day or a total of 24 hours, including rehearsal time, in any week and that the minor will not be employed before 7:00 a.m. or after 11:30 p.m. and that school and [theatrical performance] professional employment time shall not exceed 8 hours in any 1 day and that the combined time spent on a set or on call and performance or other professional employment time shall not exceed a total of eight hours in any one day;
(e) The professional employment does not involve a type of prohibited performance as hereinafter defined; and
(f) The minor will be under the direct care and supervision of an adult who is a parent, guardian or a representative of the employer, named in the application, at all times during his professional employment or while living away from home when required as an incident of such professional employment.
b. A permit or certificate, as the case may be, may be issued by the issuing officer or by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development in cases involving a significant contribution to the development of the motion picture industry in the State as determined by the Motion Picture and Television Development Commission. In such cases, the commissioner shall also have the authority to alter or amend the hours of the day but not the total hours in the day during which a minor may work as set forth in paragraph (d), subsection a. of this section, if such alteration or amendment will not foreseeably impair the educational instruction, supervision, health and welfare of the minor, and such an alteration or amendment is necessary for good reasons shown by the employer. The commissioner shall set forth the terms of any alteration or amendment in the permit or certificate.
(cf: P.L.1981, c.331, s.5)
4. This act shall take effect on the first day of the third month next following the date of enactment, but the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development shall take any anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill amends the statutes governing the employment of minors under the age of 16 in professional employment to include runway and print models. Currently, these statutes only cover the employment of a minor who works as an actor or performer in a theatrical production. The bill amends the definition of "professional employment" to include the employment of a minor as a runway or print model.
The bill would extend the protections of the child performer labor laws to runway or print models, thereby subjecting them to the same work hour, parent or guardian supervision, and education requirements currently enforced for child performers.
