Mary Graw Leary, professor at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law (Catholic Law), was quoted by Our Sunday Visitor in a February 28 article about the loosening of child labor law restrictions across the United States. The section that quotes Graw Leary focuses on the need for greater Labor Department-issued penalties on companies that have repeatedly violated child labor laws. The article in which Graw Leary is quoted is available for viewing here.

Our Sunday Visitor
28 February 2024
By Kimberley Heatherington
“Many Children Are At Risk with Looser Labor Laws, Experts Say”
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“These are major companies who have systemic and repeated circumstances in which they are employing children overnight to do extremely dangerous work,” observed Mary Graw Leary, a professor at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law who is currently a visiting professor at the University of Georgia School of Law.

“Perdue is reported to have annual sales of over $9 billion dollars. Why are they allowing child labor? Do they really need to do that with such profits? I do not think so,” she told OSV News. “They brag about how healthy their chickens are treated before they are slaughtered. It would be better if they focused on how healthy their workers are — and whether they are old enough to do these incredibly dangerous jobs.”
While companies the Labor Department investigates typically protest otherwise, “what is apparent in all these cases is this is an open secret: co-workers, supervisors, record keepers, school officials, payroll, other household members all must be aware that children are working the overnight shift in this capacity,” Graw Leary emphasized. “Yet, they look the other way.”

Child labor violations won’t cease, Graw Leary said, until penalties become more punitive.

“These companies know this is going on and also know with their profit margins it is unnecessary and a dehumanization of children that is allowed to flourish, because these companies take advantage of this vulnerable population for their own profit,” she added. “That is called exploitation and is a reason why we need stronger criminal liability to address it.”
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