New data show companies employed 5,792 children in violation of child labor law in Fiscal Year 2023
Since 2019, child labor violations have increased roughly 88 percent
New bill would strengthen labor law, give Department of Labor greater enforcement power
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray, a former chair and senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) introduced legislation to protect children from exploitative child labor practices and hold the companies and individuals who take advantage of them accountable. The Children Harmed in Life-threatening or Dangerous (CHILD) Labor Act strengthens our ability to combat child labor by cracking down on employers who violate child labor laws with stronger penalties and allowing children who have been seriously injured to sue their employers. The bill also expands child labor provisions to hold suppliers and subcontractors throughout the supply chain responsible and authorizes the Department of Labor to label goods that are produced with child labor.
“Over the past few years, we have seen an alarming rise in instances of illegal and dangerous child labor—last year, a record number of businesses in Washington state were cited for child labor violations,” said Senator Murray. “We’re talking about kids, many of them migrant children, in abusive and extraordinarily dangerous work environments; kids working the night shift around heavy equipment and in unsafe conditions with no real recourse when they are harmed, and barely any accountability on the part of companies who break child labor law. This has to change. I’m grateful for the serious reporting that has helped shine a light on this growing problem, and the many victims who have courageously come forward to share their stories—but it’s going to take real action at the federal level to crack down on illegal and exploitative child labor, which has in many cases caused gruesome injuries and even death. This is about protecting vulnerable children from exploitation and abuse—there’s no reason Congress shouldn’t be able to act.”
The CHILD Labor Act would protect children by enhancing the Fair Labor Standards Act to hold liable contractors or subcontractors for child labor violations in the same manner as the employer who employs the oppressive child labor; increase the civil penalty amount for child labor violations from $11,000 to $151,380—or 10 times the inflation-adjusted amount; increase the criminal penalty fine from $10,000 to $750,000; require any person who violates child labor provisions to be liable to each employee affected by the violation in an amount no less than $75,000; and require federal contracts to contain child labor provisions that prohibit the use of oppressive child labor.
The legislation would also authorize the Secretary of Labor to affix warning labels to goods manufactured with oppressive child labor, to issue a stop work order to any person in violation of child labor provisions, and require the Secretary to report to Congress data and recommendations concerning overall trends for work-related injuries, illnesses, or deaths to Congress on an annual basis.
The following Senators have joined Murray and Casey to cosponsor the CHILD Labor Act: U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
The bill is endorsed by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), Child Labor Coalition, National Consumers League, and the Center for Law & Social Policy (CLASP).
Read more about the CHILD Labor Act here.
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