New data show companies employed 5,792 children in violation of child labor law in FY23

Since 2019, child labor violations have increased roughly 88 percent

New CHILD Labor Act would grant U.S. Department of Labor greater enforcement power

WASHINGTON, DC – Exploitive child labor should be a relic of the past.  But some red states are reportedly seeking to weaken child labor protections rather than paying adults higher wages and recent reports by the New York Times and The Public’s Radio highlight the pervasiveness of child labor abuses that continue to plague children, families, and communities around the country.

Amidst a concerning spike in child labor violations, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) is teaming up with Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) on new legislation to protect children from exploitative child labor practices and hold the companies and individuals who take advantage of them accountable.

Today, the senators introduced the Children Harmed in Life-threatening or Dangerous (CHILD) Labor Act.  This legislation would enhance the federal government’s 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 U.S. Department of Labor to label goods that are produced with child labor.

“Children do not belong in factories or working during hours when they should be studying, spending time with their families, or simply being children. Yet too many bad actors get away with forcing kids to work long hours and under dangerous conditions,” said Senator Casey. “It is long past time we bring our child labor laws into the 21st century and fight back against the employers, contractors, and subcontractors that violate them.”

“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. 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,” said Senator Murray, the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “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.”

“We cannot allow the scourge of exploitive child labor to take root in our nation again.  It’s fine for young people to work part-time in non-hazardous jobs, but no child should be exposed to dangerous, unregulated conditions and forced to work around the clock.  The CHILD Labor Act is a comprehensive bill that would strengthen our child labor laws and our means of enforcing them.  We must also hold companies accountable when they violate the law.  Employers that claim to stand for family values aren’t upholding those values if they are profiting off of illicit child labor.  I will continue working to expand protections for workers, including vulnerable migrant children, and hold businesses and contractors accountable for violating the law,” said Senator Reed, a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.

Reed noted that it is important for workers under the age of 18 to be aware of the protections afforded to them by law.  He also encourages employers to familiarize themselves with both the state child labor laws and federal laws – including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) – to  ensure they are in full compliance.  Where state and federal child labor laws overlap, the most protective standard applies.

The CHILD Labor Act would protect children by enhancing the FLSA 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.

In addition to Casey, Murray, and Reed, the CHILD Labor Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Identical legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

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).

Additionally, Senator Reed is a cosponsor of Senator Brian Schatz’s (D-HI) Child Labor Prevention Act (S. 637), which would increase maximum employer civil penalties and establish criminal penalties for a repeated or willful violations of child labor laws.

Earlier this week, Reed joined 11 fellow Senators in penning a letter to U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su urging the Biden Administration to continue holding companies accountable for violations of child labor laws.

The U.S. Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) enforce major worker protection laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the National Labor Relations Act.  These statutes guarantee U.S. workers a minimum wage, a safe and healthy workplace, and the right to collective bargaining, respectively.