Pa. says 'Jon & Kate' kids need work permits, trust funds

HARRISBURG - The reality-TV show Jon & Kate Plus 8 has gotten a dose of real reality, courtesy of the State of Pennsylvania.

In a letter that became public Wednesday, state Department of Labor and Industry officials said child-labor permits should have been obtained for Jon and Kate Gosselin's eight children, who appeared regularly on the now-canceled TLC show watched by millions.

The letter also said no legal action would be taken against the show's producers - as long as 15 percent of the show's proceeds were salted away in a trust fund for the Gosselins' 9-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets.

Labor officials also ordered that permits be obtained for any future filming.

"It is our opinion that they should have been 'permitted,' " Labor and Industry spokesman Troy Thompson said of the children.

Despite that finding, he said the investigation "did not turn up any evidence that there were transgressions of the requirements for how child performers should be treated."

The letter from Harrisburg happened to surface on the day Kate Gosselin's relatives were telling state legislators meeting in Horsham that the show had become a profit-driven "circus."

Replying to written questions about the state's letter, Laurie Goldberg, a spokeswoman for Discovery Talent Services and TLC, said Wednesday that the trust fund had been established, and that the amount placed in it exceeded 15 percent of the show's gross proceeds.

She also said that "our formal position is that [permits] are not required as a matter of law, but as part of the resolution we agreed to obtain permits."

In general, Pennsylvania labor law allows children younger than 16 to work in the entertainment industry as long as child-labor permits are obtained.

Also, certain rules must be followed. For instance, children can't be made to work past 11:30 p.m.

In the Gosselins' case, the department received a complaint last summer against the show, which was filmed primarily in the couple's home in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, and later in Wernersville, Berks County, after the couple moved there. State officials declined to say when the complaint was filed or who filed it.

One of the fundamental questions, state officials said, was whether reality television was subject to child labor laws.

According to information that TLC provided to the state, filming generally occurred two or three times a week for four to six hours each time. On school nights, filming wrapped up at 7.

The state's letter notes that DVDs and other merchandise involving the children were sold, and that there was product placement in some episodes. All of that figured in officials' conclusion that the Gosselin children were employees under Pennsylvania law.

So did the children's frequent appearances in the show, the direction they sometimes received, and the fact that their parents were paid for the family's participation.

As the show's armies of fans know, the Gosselins have since divorced. Kate Gosselin, who has custody of the children, competes on ABC's Dancing With the Stars and has another reality television show in the works. Jon Gosselin has had legal squabbles with TLC and has retained a Delaware County lawyer to, among other things, revisit the children's custody arrangement.

Then there are the relatives. Kate Gosselin's brother and sister-in-law were testifying Wednesday at a legislative committee meeting in Horsham examining the state's child labor laws.

The two told legislators that those laws needed updating to reflect the advent of reality television and the Internet.

"These children deserve the same legal protection and ethical safeguards provided to children involved in scripted television production," an emotional Jodi Kreider, who is married to Kate Gosselin's brother, Kevin Kreider, told legislators.

The Kreiders, who were neighbors of the Gosselins in Wernersville, participated in the early episodes of the TLC show until, they said, what began as an innocent documentary about family life turned into a "circus."

Kevin Kreider said he was particularly concerned about 24/7 video cameras in the children's bedrooms, filming of toilet training with full nudity, and lack of adult supervision during filming.

He said episodes showing the children's private moments were not only on TV, but also are posted on the Internet for all to see.

State Rep. Thomas Murt (R., Montgomery) said he planned to introduce legislation to revise Pennsylvania's child labor code to reflect concerns raised in the hearing. He said the state code needed new curbs on hours and working conditions, and language to ensure that children in reality shows are compensated.

Murt said that he was disappointed that the findings of the agency charged with overseeing children in the workplace had not been made public until Wednesday's hearing, and that "despite numerous violations to code, no one was being cited" in connection with the show.

Thompson, the spokesman for the Labor and Industry Department, said the department, too, was working to revamp child labor laws - in part to reflect the advent of reality TV and the Internet.