Indianapolis, In. — Legislation recently introduced by Indiana state senator Chip Perfect has unintentionally ignited a firestorm of negative coverage.
Perfect, owner of Perfect North Slopes, employs about 400 minors, Holiday World employs about 600 minors. Because of this, they have invested a substantial amount of business capital to develop systems to ensure they pass state labor inspections. He says the cost of the investment is justified by properly employing minors and avoiding violations of the law.
Perfect says, “We’re a citizen legislature that means we rely on the people that are the most “expert” in a particular subject to carry the legislation and carry it to the other members.”
The goal of this legislation is to rewrite statutes codified in the 1930s up to date and make complying with labor laws for small businesses more manageable.
Publications like the Indianapolis Star and Washington Post jumped on Perfect to point out a conflict of interest, despite exoneration from his colleagues. Curiously, just before the bill was heard in committee, members of the newspaper industry requested to be amended into a bill that would recognize their delivery personnel as independent contractors, similar designations given to people who participate in direct sales.
The bill is likely headed to Summer Study.
