The New York Times > Washington > Labor Dept. to Investigate Its Treatment of Wal-Mart
The inspector general’s decision comes after lawmakers and children’s advocacy groups criticized the department’s settlement of child labor complaints against 24 Wal-Mart stores in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Arkansas. Without admitting any wrongdoing, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $135,540 to settle complaints involving 85 youths.
Representative George Miller of California, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, asked the inspector general to intervene…
Okay, so a company headquartered in Arkansas was being investigated in Connecticut, Arkansas and New Hampshire. Now I realize that Mr. Miller actually lives on the east coast, probably for life, but since he represents California, what exactly does he have to do with Connecticut, New Hampshire or Arkansas, the closest of which is 1500 miles from his ‘home’ district?
And, I know people won’t like this, but applying a quaint law intended to protect children against the dangerous sweatshop conditions of Victorian-era factories to modern retail businesses is more than a bit ridiculous. There are a lot worse things kids can be doing with their time than working at a Wal-Mart.