Identifying Central Issues Why do you think the clause in the

Factory Act might have stipulated that an employer could not be

penalized more than once for the same infraction? Why does the

inspector feel he would be justified in penalizing Taylor, Ibbotson,

and Co, more than once?

The Factory Acts were a series of laws that were passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century. These laws attempted to regulate the employment of children and women in factories. With time, many of its rules came to apply to all workers, such as the ten-hour work day.

One of the clauses of this act was the fact that an employer could not be penalized more than once for the same infraction. The most likely reason for this was that the government wanted to avoid damaging factories excessively. Moreover, it is likely that if a worker had a complaint, all workers shared it, as it was most likely a result of company policy.