So I encountered a situation today and I am honestly not sure what I should do about it, if anything.
My coworker told me that one of the guys who sweeps the floor at our construction site is only 15. I'm honestly not sure whether he works for the general contractor or one of the subcontractors. He doesn't work for my subcontractor, I know.
My first instinct is to call the police. Child labor in general is bad; on a construction site, which is a bit hazardous, is worse.
But this kid is an undocumented immigrant from a family of them. To my knowledge, they don't qualify for the income assistance that citizens would get. His mother works on the site with him. So if I call someone about this, the most likely scenario is he will just be working somewhere else, or his family loses a needed source of income, or at worst I get people deported. And chances are his employer will suffer little to no consequences – certainly not as severe, proportionally, to what this guy and his family would face. And his job is sweeping the floor which is probably the least hazardous job on the site.
It makes me so upset and furious to know this company is using child labor, that we are so screwed up as a country that we are one of the richest and most powerful nations but have so many hangups about citizenship that immigrants have to be in that situation to survive, and that the best thing I might be able to do is to stand back and let it happen.