Throughout history, the advance of civilization has been closely tied to the idea that all people have rights: universal, inalienable entitlements to freedom, dignity and security, to be treated fairly and to live free from oppression. The health and soul of all societies depend on how these human rights are recognized--and acted upon. Until the…

The article will address the global and local issue of human trafficking. An estimated 20,000 people are trafficked within the U.S. each year. Trafficked people are forced, defrauded and coerced into labor and sexual service for profit of others. Traffickers use individual vulnerabilities and immigration status, language ability and poor…

The Fair Labor Standards Act contains provisions and standards concerning minimum wages, equal pay, maximum hours and overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor. These basic requirements apply to employees engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for interstate commerce and also to employees in certain enterprises that are so…

Slavery flourishes in the modern world. In nations plagued by debilitating poverty, individuals unable to afford food, clothing, and shelter may be compelled to make a devastating decision: to sell themselves or their children into slavery. Nowhere in the world is this more common than India. Conservative estimates suggest that there are 10…

Virginia became the forty-third jurisdiction to pass a minimum wage law as 17 others strengthened such protection; California and nine other States took steps to aid farm workers. This is followed by summary of individual State labor legislation passed during 1975. (Author/BP)

Cooperative education is a method of instruction that enables students to combine academic classroom instruction (school-based learning component) with occupational instruction through learning on the job (work-based learning component) in a career area of choice. Emphasis is placed on the students' education and employability skills. Co-op is a…

Discusses the evolution of children's rights in Western nations. Children have progressed from property to partial person status. The movement toward greater self-determination for children will require the expertise of psychologists in assessing individual levels of development. (DM)

This booklet gives general information on the provisions of the Labor Law and other laws governing the employment of minors in New York state. The legal provisions discussed in summary form in the booklet are contained in several different federal and state laws. The document describes provisions governing school attendance, minimum working age,…

This booklet gives general information on the provisions of the laws relating to the work force of New York State. Presented in a question-and-answer format, the booklet provides information on the following laws: minimum wages, prevailing wage rate, payment of wages, hours of work--meal periods, employment of minors, industrial homework,…

Summaries are presented, by state, of labor standards legislation passed during 1984. Significant actions included laws concerning wages, child labor, school attendance, occupational safety and health, working hours, equal employment opportunity, worker privacy, labor relations, private employment agencies, employment and training, plant closings,…

This report examines the issue of child labor and makes recommendations for changes in New York's child labor laws. It reviews the relationship of child labor to education, the relationship of child labor to social development, child labor and workplace safety, and the role of young workers in the economy. It concludes that simply relaxing child…

By completing these self-contained, supplementary activities, secondary students will learn about important law-related issues and themes in American history. When students recognize the vital constitutional issues of different periods in history they are helped in understanding the social, political, and economic forces which shaped those…

This teacher's guide is part of a curriculum designed for infusion into secondary U.S. history courses to help students explore purposes of American law. In the curriculum students study about legal decision making during the American colonial period, explore methods our legal system uses to establish facts, learn that individual liberty is a…

Child labor, which is children's work that is exploitative and dangerous, poses a major human rights and socioeconomic challenge. Universal primary education may be the most effective instrument for meeting this challenge. The expansion of compulsory primary schooling could reduce hours of work by children and help them protect themselves against…

This student booklet is part of a curriculum designed for infusion into secondary U.S. history courses to help students explore the purposes of American law. The booklet contains student readings and discussion questions and suggests learning activities. There are five units. Unit 1, "Law in a New World," examines processes used to make…