APPENDIX I.
A STATEMENT FROM THE LABOR DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ADVOCATING THE LIMITATION OF HOURS OF WORK FOR RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES.[14]
At present restaurant employees do not come within the provisions of the law relative to hours of labor of females, or the day of rest law. To the casual observer it is very evident that there is no other employment in which males and females are employed, where the hours of labor are so long, and where the employees are compelled to be constantly on their feet. It is admitted that there is no class of work in which so large a percentage of females is employed. The Legislature has recognized that the females working in restaurants should be protected to some extent, by providing in section 17 of the Labor Law that “Every person employing females—as waitresses in a hotel or restaurant shall provide and maintain suitable seats” but by the very nature of their work the employees have no opportunity to use these seats. There seems to be no good reason why the hours of employment of females in restaurants should not be subject to law as in mercantile establishments, and that all those employed in the same should enjoy the benefits of the day of rest law, as they do in other employments. The evil resulting from restaurants being exempt from the provisions of the Labor Law relating to hours and day of rest, is shown in the fact that bakeries and confectionery establishments have added to their business the serving of sandwiches and lunches, and endeavor to escape the provisions of the law by claiming that they are exempt because they are operating a restaurant. This illustrates the subterfuge to which many employers will resort rather than comply with the law.
James L. Gernon,
Chief Mercantile Inspector.
APPENDIX II.
EXTRACTS FROM A TENTATIVE REPORT ON THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES IN RESTAURANTS, BASED ON A STUDY CONDUCTED BY THE OCCUPATIONAL CLINIC OF THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
From such opportunities for observation as our clinic study afforded us, it is safe to say that this occupation is one which may affect the health of women and in connection with long hours and small wages may combine to cause an increased existence of sickness among them. The effect of work that requires standing and running about while carrying loads for many hours during the day will be particularly marked upon the generative organs of the woman. The influence of the work in this particular, which we are unfortunately unable to study, because of the opposition it would inevitably arouse, leads me to believe that from this standpoint alone, there is a definite hazard to the child-bearing capacity of the woman. This is of vital consequence to society as a whole, as well as to the individual workers, and therefore well justifies every effort to correct the undesirable conditions that attend this occupation.
Louis I. Harris,
Chief, Division of Industrial Hygiene.