Child labor violations are up 69%. Here’s what Congress is doing to address it.

Labor Department reports increase in children employed illegally

WASHINGTON − While mired in the thick of a war in Israel, electing a speaker and the possibility of a second government shutdown this fall, Congress is facing a harrowing issue impacting America’s youngest: A 69% increase in child labor law violations since 2018.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., is the latest lawmaker looking to update the nation’s antiquated child labor laws after a steep increase in violations over the last several years.

Casey, who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families, on Thursday will introduce the Children Harmed in Life-Threatening or Dangerous Labor Act, or CHILD Labor Act. The bill focuses on setting hasher penalties for child labor law violations and increasing accountability for violators, including contractors and subcontractors that employ children.

What’s in Casey’s proposal?

The CHILD Labor Act of 2023 would provide enhancements to modernize the Fair Labor Standards Act and federal contracting laws to ensure companies, contractors and subcontractors that hire children are held accountable.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is co-leading the legislation with Casey. It has a companion bill in the House led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Calif.

Several senators − John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Alex Padilla of California, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Sherrod Brown of Ohio − have signed on to co-sponsor Casey’s bill.

Separately, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind. introduced a bipartisan bill last week that would also increase penalties for child labor law violations.

Casey’s bill includes the following provisions:

• Holding contractors and subcontractors accountable in the same manner as employers who violate child labor laws
• Authorize the Secretary of Labor to label goods that are produced with child labor and issue stop-work orders to any person in violation of child labor provisions
• Require the Secretary of Labor to report to Congress on an annual basis with data and recommendations concerning overall trends for work-related injuries, illnesses or deaths
• Increase the civil penalty amount for persons who violate child labor provisions from $11,000 to $151,380 for each child
• Amend the maximum fine from $10,000 to $750,000 for criminal penalties for any person convicted of child labor violations
• Require any person who violates child labor provisions to be liable to each employee affected with a minimum of $75,000 in compensatory damages

Department of Labor seeks additional funding

As Congress looks to pass a slate of funding bills before the Nov. 17 government funding deadline, the Department of Labor is calling on Congress to meet a funding request of $50 million each for the Wage and Hour Division as well as the Office of the Solicitor of Labor to investigate child labor cases.

According to the division, between 2010 and 2019, 15% of full-time employees were lost from the annual appropriation. The division has 740 investigators nationwide who protect more than 165 million workers at 11 million workplaces.

The Department of Labor earlier this year launched an usatoday.com

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