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Fine Line Between Paper Carriers and Workers’ Comp
By Robert Warne - July 22, 2002

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Fine Line Between Paper Carriers and Workers’ Comp
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What does Warren Buffett, John Glenn and Olympic speed-skating gold medallist Chris Witty have in common? Going back in time, these extra ordinary Americans started their careers delivering newspapers.

In fact when Buffett was 14 he took money that he earned from his two paper routes and bought a 40-acre piece of land that he leased to a farmer.

A lot has changed over the years for paper carriers, but what hasn’t changed is the lack of insurance coverage extended to them.

Along with babysitting, some kinds of farming and making Christmas wreaths at home, delivering papers is one of six jobs a child under 13 can legally perform courtesy of a 1949 exemption in child labor laws.

A youngster may be able to deliver papers legally, but what is just as legal in many states, including California, is a loophole that doesn’t require publishers or independent distributors to cover paper carriers with workers’ compensation. Many companies make available insurance coverage at group rates for carriers, but it is far from comprehensive.

Sixteen youths under age 18 were killed delivering newspapers or collecting fees from subscribers between 1992 and 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is not uncommon for a paper carrier to be injured delivering papers or collecting fees, but it is difficult to track the numbers nationwide because the statistics aren’t systematically gathered.

Young paper carriers aren’t protected by child-labor laws or standards set by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration. And in some states they aren’t even required to wear bike helmets.

Federal law doesn't limit the hours child newspaper deliverers can work and even allows them to work in the middle of the night. It is left up to each state to establish and enforce laws governing the occupation of newspaper delivery.

Meanwhile only a handful of states, including New York, Wisconsin, Nevada, Kentucky and Maryland, require workers' compensation coverage for youth carriers.

The newspaper industry has always justified its position that paper carriers are independent contractors who buy papers wholesale and sell them at retail prices. The independent status allows newspaper companies to avoid workers' compensation costs and it absolves them of any liabilities.

One paper that stands out among the others is the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. This family-owned paper voluntarily takes financial responsibility for injured child carriers. Although not required by law, the paper classifies its carriers as employees, which makes them eligible for workers’ compensation.

The Wall Street Journal reported that when 11-year-old Sean Allen was struck by a car and killed delivering the paper in 1997, the Dispatch paid his medical bills, as well as $6,200 in death benefits. Life insurance the paper buys for its carriers paid an additional $5,000. The boy's mother, Linda Allen, was so moved by the paper's support that she kept her son's route and now delivers it herself. "I keep doing it in Sean's memory," she says.

 
 

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