Combating Child Labor Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2956 To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase criminal and civil penalties related to child labor, to require the Secretary of Labor to annually report to Congress on child labor violations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 27, 2023 Mr. KILDEE (for himself, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. SCHOLTEN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. CARAVEO, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. CAR- SON, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. CASAR, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. CHU, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. TITUS, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WILLIAMS of Geor- gia, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. EVANS, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, Mr. TRONE, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THANEDAR, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. POCAN, Mr. DESAULNIER, and Mrs. HAYES) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu- cation and the Workforce A BILL To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase criminal and civil penalties related to child labor, to require the Secretary of Labor to annually report to Congress on child labor violations, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2956.IH H2956 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2956 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Child 2 Labor Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. PENALTIES RELATED TO CHILD LABOR. 4 (a) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 16(a) of the 5 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(a) is 6 amended— 7 (1) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) Any’’; 8 (2) by inserting ‘‘(other than subsection (a)(4)’’ 9 after ‘‘section 15’’; 10 (3) by striking ‘‘this subsection’’ each place it 11 appears and inserting ‘‘this paragraph’’; and 12 (4) by adding at the end the following new 13 paragraphs: 14 ‘‘(2) Any person who repeatedly or willfully vio- 15 lates section 15(a)(4) shall upon conviction thereof 16 be subject to a fine of not more than $100,000, or 17 to imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both. 18 ‘‘(3) Any person who repeatedly or willfully vio- 19 lates section 15(a)(4) that results in the death or se- 20 rious injury of an employee under the age of 18 21 years shall upon conviction thereof be subject to a 22 fine of not more than $500,000, or to imprisonment 23 for not more than 10 years, or both’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2956.IH H2956 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2956 IH (b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 16(e)(1) of the Fair 1 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(e)(1)) is 2 amended— 3 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 4 (A) by striking ‘‘not to exceed’’ and insert- 5 ing ‘‘that is’’; 6 (B) by moving the margins for clauses (i) 7 and (ii) 4 ems to the left; 8 (C) in clause (i)— 9 (i) by striking ‘‘$11,000’’ and insert- 10 ing ‘‘not less than $1,000 and not more 11 than $150,000’’; and 12 (ii) by striking ‘‘; or’’ and inserting ‘‘, 13 which penalty may be doubled where the 14 violation is a repeated or willful violation;’’; 15 and 16 (D) in clause (ii)— 17 (i) by striking ‘‘$50,000’’ and insert- 18 ing ‘‘not less than $20,000 and not more 19 than $700,000’’; and 20 (ii) by striking ‘‘death or’’; and 21 (iii) by striking the period at the end 22 and inserting ‘‘; or’’ 23 (E) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2956.IH H2956 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2956 IH ‘‘(iii) not less than $70,000 and not more than 1 $700,000 with regard to each such violation that 2 causes the death of any employee under the age of 3 18 years, which penalty may be doubled where the 4 violation is a repeated or willful violation.’’. 5 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘subpara- 6 graph (A)’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’. 7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 8 this section shall apply to violations occurring on or after 9 the date of enactment of this section. 10 SEC. 3. REPORT ON CHILD LABOR ACTIVITIES. 11 The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 12 201 et seq.) is further amended by inserting after section 13 12 the following new section: 14 ‘‘SEC. 12A. REPORT ON CHILD LABOR ACTIVITIES. 15 ‘‘The Secretary shall submit annually a report to 16 Congress, and on the same day publish such report in the 17 Federal Register and on the website of the Department 18 of Labor, on violations of the provisions of section 12 or 19 13(c), relating to child labor, or any regulation issued pur- 20 suant to such sections, in the most recent fiscal year pre- 21 ceding such report, including the following information: 22 ‘‘(1) A list of employers determined to have 23 committed such violations, including— 24 ‘‘(A) the employer’s name and address; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2956.IH H2956 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2956 IH ‘‘(B) the number and type of violations 1 committed; 2 ‘‘(C) a summary explanation of each viola- 3 tion of sections 12(a) and 15(a)(1) related to 4 child labor; 5 ‘‘(D) any penalties assessed under section 6 17; and 7 ‘‘(E) any other action taken in relation to 8 such violations. 9 ‘‘(2) A list of goods (including consumer facing 10 brands and trademarks, the names under which such 11 goods are marketed to consumers, and other infor- 12 mation a consumer may use to identify such goods) 13 that the Secretary has reason to believe were pro- 14 duced in an establishment situated in the United 15 States in or about which any oppressive child labor 16 has been employed. 17 ‘‘(3) A summary of trends in such violations, 18 including— 19 ‘‘(A) whether such violations were related 20 to— 21 ‘‘(i) the occupation of the child being 22 found to be particularly hazardous for the 23 child employed or detrimental to their 24 health and well-being; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2956.IH H2956 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2956 IH ‘‘(ii) the periods during which such 1 child is employed; or 2 ‘‘(iii) the maximum hours such child 3 may be employed for; and 4 ‘‘(B) any comparatively high violation rates 5 in industries or regions. 6 ‘‘(4) A summary of enforcement actions taken 7 by the Secretary to prevent and detect such viola- 8 tions, including information on how the Secretary 9 detects violations, the enforcement strategy, whether 10 such enforcement strategy is effective, and ways it 11 could be improved. 12 ‘‘(5) Information on the prevalence of investiga- 13 tions related to such violations in comparison to the 14 potential extent of oppressive child labor in the 15 United States. 16 ‘‘(6) Information on data collection related to 17 child labor, including recommendations for improv- 18 ing such data collection. 19 ‘‘(7) A description of any additional resources 20 necessary to conduct activities related to enforcing 21 the provisions of sections 12 or 13(c).’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2956.IH H2956 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS