information from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension before hiring property managers. Likewise, employees, contractors and volunteers of a home health care provider or hospice are subject to background checks. New this year is the requirement of fingerprinting of all new employees who care for seniors, disabled and other potentially vulnerable groups. Employers in other instances may be interested in performing background checks of potential employees. Those employers are strongly urged to seek the advice of counsel before performing those background checks. That is for many reasons, including but not limited to avoid any claims of discriminatory use of background checks and to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Minnesota Access to Consumer Reports law. Private employers may not inquire into a job applicant’s “criminal record or criminal history” before an interview or, if there is no interview, before a conditional offer of employment is made to the applicant. Employers may not require an employee or prospective employee to pay for expenses incurred in criminal or background checks, credit checks or orientation, or to pay for the expense of training or testing that is required by federal or state law or is required by the employer for the employee to maintain the employee’s current position, unless the training or testing is required to obtain or maintain a license, registration, or certification for the employee or prospective employee.
EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS
Minnesota employers generally are covered by the Minnesota Child Labor Standards Act. Federal child labor laws apply if the employer is under the jurisdiction of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the federal act would provide more protection or set a higher standard. Information on federal child labor laws may be obtained from the United States Department of Labor. 1 Information on state child labor laws may be obtained from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Addresses and telephone numbers for both are listed in the Resource Directory section of this Guide. FEDERAL CHILD LABOR STANDARDS The child labor provisions of the federal act are designed to protect the educational opportunities of minors and prohibit their employment in jobs and under conditions detrimental to their health or well-being. The provisions include lists of hazardous occupation orders for both farm and nonfarm jobs declared by the Secretary of Labor as being too dangerous for minors to perform: • 18 years or older: any job, whether hazardous or not, for unlimited hours. • 16 and 17 years old: any nonhazardous job, for unlimited hours. (However, the State requirements do not allow high school students to work after 11 p.m. on the night before a school day, or before 5 a.m. on a school day, subject to some exceptions.)
1 The U.S. Department of Labor has issued various Regulations on the Federal Child Labor Laws. These can be found in various Chapters in 29 CFR (including Chapters 570, 575 and 579).
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