[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2956 Introduced in House (IH)]
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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. Cardenas, Ms. Clarke of New York, Ms.
Norton, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Tokuda, Ms.
Scholten, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Caraveo, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Carson, Ms.
Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Casar, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Chu, Mr.
McGovern, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Ms. Titus, Ms. Lee of California, Ms.
Velazquez, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Adams, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Evans,
Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Mr. Trone, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. Takano, Mr.
Thanedar, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Pocan, Mr. DeSaulnier, and
Mrs. Hayes) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education 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 purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Combating Child Labor Act''.
SEC. 2. PENALTIES RELATED TO CHILD LABOR.
(a) Criminal Penalties.--Section 16(a) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(a) is amended--
(1) by striking ``Any'' and inserting ``(1) Any'';
(2) by inserting ``(other than subsection (a)(4)'' after
``section 15'';
(3) by striking ``this subsection'' each place it appears
and inserting ``this paragraph''; and
(4) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
``(2) Any person who repeatedly or willfully violates
section 15(a)(4) shall upon conviction thereof be subject to a
fine of not more than $100,000, or to imprisonment for not more
than 5 years, or both.
``(3) Any person who repeatedly or willfully violates
section 15(a)(4) that results in the death or serious injury of
an employee under the age of 18 years shall upon conviction
thereof be subject to a fine of not more than $500,000, or to
imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both''.
(b) Civil Penalties.--Section 16(e)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(e)(1)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A)--
(A) by striking ``not to exceed'' and inserting
``that is'';
(B) by moving the margins for clauses (i) and (ii)
4 ems to the left;
(C) in clause (i)--
(i) by striking ``$11,000'' and inserting
``not less than $1,000 and not more than
$150,000''; and
(ii) by striking ``; or'' and inserting ``,
which penalty may be doubled where the
violation is a repeated or willful
violation;''; and
(D) in clause (ii)--
(i) by striking ``$50,000'' and inserting
``not less than $20,000 and not more than
$700,000''; and
(ii) by striking ``death or''; and
(iii) by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; or''
(E) by adding at the end the following:
``(iii) not less than $70,000 and not more than $700,000
with regard to each such violation that causes the death of any
employee under the age of 18 years, which penalty may be
doubled where the violation is a repeated or willful
violation.''.
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``subparagraph (A)''
and inserting ``this section''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to violations occurring on or after the date of enactment of this
section.
SEC. 3. REPORT ON CHILD LABOR ACTIVITIES.
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is
further amended by inserting after section 12 the following new
section:
``SEC. 12A. REPORT ON CHILD LABOR ACTIVITIES.
``The Secretary shall submit annually a report to Congress, and on
the same day publish such report in the Federal Register and on the
website of the Department of Labor, on violations of the provisions of
section 12 or 13(c), relating to child labor, or any regulation issued
pursuant to such sections, in the most recent fiscal year preceding
such report, including the following information:
``(1) A list of employers determined to have committed such
violations, including--
``(A) the employer's name and address;
``(B) the number and type of violations committed;
``(C) a summary explanation of each violation of
sections 12(a) and 15(a)(1) related to child labor;
``(D) any penalties assessed under section 17; and
``(E) any other action taken in relation to such
violations.
``(2) A list of goods (including consumer facing brands and
trademarks, the names under which such goods are marketed to
consumers, and other information a consumer may use to identify
such goods) that the Secretary has reason to believe were
produced in an establishment situated in the United States in
or about which any oppressive child labor has been employed.
``(3) A summary of trends in such violations, including--
``(A) whether such violations were related to--
``(i) the occupation of the child being
found to be particularly hazardous for the
child employed or detrimental to their health
and well-being;
``(ii) the periods during which such child
is employed; or
``(iii) the maximum hours such child may be
employed for; and
``(B) any comparatively high violation rates in
industries or regions.
``(4) A summary of enforcement actions taken by the
Secretary to prevent and detect such violations, including
information on how the Secretary detects violations, the
enforcement strategy, whether such enforcement strategy is
effective, and ways it could be improved.
``(5) Information on the prevalence of investigations
related to such violations in comparison to the potential
extent of oppressive child labor in the United States.
``(6) Information on data collection related to child
labor, including recommendations for improving such data
collection.
``(7) A description of any additional resources necessary
to conduct activities related to enforcing the provisions of
sections 12 or 13(c).''.
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