New York State War Council War Emergency Dispensation Committee Recommendations for Labor Dispensations for Minors

Numerical by case number. Materials without case numbers are arranged chronologically.

This series contains recommendations compiled by Labor Department representatives for members of the committee summarizing the investigation into different companies' requests for dispensations which would allow businesses to ignore certain child labor restrictions. These dispensations usually involved the time and number of hours per week permitted to work and each dispensation was issued for a six month period. The information was gathered to ensure that the dispensation was necessary and that minors would be protected from unhealthy or adverse working conditions.

The forms list: business name; address; items manufactured; number of current employees by sex; number of minors employed or desired for employment by sex; work to be performed by minors (sometimes by sex); and weekly work schedule including rest periods.

Each recommendation also discusses the on-site inspection made by Labor Department representatives to examine working conditions and compliance with labor regulations. The inspectors often conferred with union shop stewards and with a labor liaison representative, if either were present or available, to ascertain their position on the business's dispensation request. The inspectors also conferred with other government agencies to determine if the local labor shortage was severe enough to warrant the employment of minors. Based on the information gathered, the inspectors issued a recommendation for granting or denying the dispensation--a recommendation which the committee usually adopted.

Also included in this series are petitions for extensions or renewals of dispensations granted earlier, along with a small amount of correspondence. Additionally, stencils of recommendations (and one memorandum) for which no paper copy exists are filed at the end of the series.

B1536Series B1536, Dispensation records and press releases, contains War Council's notification of determination and recommendations for renewal of dispensation orders to hire minors.

Folder list is available at the repository.

This series was originally accessioned as boxes 61 and 62 of old collection #77, accession -71.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.