[Histonet] Clarification of Legality of work

[Karla Arrington]

Fellow Histo's:
 
Thanks for the many responses. But I feel that I have to clarify the situation.  In this state, HT's are very hard to come by. So with that in mind, the Pathologist suggested his 15 year old daughter to help me, working summers and holidays.  The plan is for me to train her as a Histology student taking their clinical.  Also, the Pathologist wants her to take the on-line HT program to get certified.  Do you not have to have a high school diploma first? She is only 15!!  She is also to be paid by the companies payroll.  She has not been exposed to any of the basics.  So therefore, I am "teaching" a minor every aspect of Histology. When I need time off, she will be responsible for the work that is performed.  This includes embedding, microtomy, staining, special stains, IHC's, maintenance; etc.  She would be a 15 year old doing the work of a certified HT.  To this I feel very uncomfortable.  In response, I called our state Child Labor law
 department and they said that  it is ILLEGAL for a minor, under the age of 17 to be working in the medical laboratory, especially with blood borne pathogens.  When she is here, I am solely responsible for her as her parent is usually unavailable, so therefore no direct supervision by the Pathologist.  If "caught", I don't want to loose my HT license because of this. If I disagree
to not "teach" his daughter, I know there will be consequences for me.  And that leads to the second dilemma.
Any suggestion?
 
Concerned, 
freckles9660 <@t> yahoo.com