To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to strengthen the provisions relating to child labor, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill defines congressional findings documenting that child farmworkers work in hazardous conditions at younger ages and longer hours than children in other industries, with inadequate federal protections and enforcement, requires redefines oppressive child labor to remove agricultural exemptions, making protections for children working in agriculture equal to those in other industries, and requires narrows child labor exemptions to only allow children under 18 to work on farms owned by their parents outside school hours, and repeals the waiver provision for hand harvest laborers. It relies on compliance mandates, reporting requirements, definition changes, and exemptions. The main policy areas are Labor, Agriculture, and Trade.
Who Benefits and How
Child workers previously employed as pesticide handlers could face reduced risk, Child farmworkers on non-family farms could face reduced risk, and Child farmworkers could face reduced risk.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Agricultural employers would take on compliance duties, Department of Labor would take on compliance duties, and Pesticide application companies would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Defines congressional findings documenting that child farmworkers work in hazardous conditions at younger ages and longer hours than children in other industries, with inadequate federal protections and enforcement.
- Requires redefines oppressive child labor to remove agricultural exemptions, making protections for children working in agriculture equal to those in other industries.
- Requires narrows child labor exemptions to only allow children under 18 to work on farms owned by their parents outside school hours, and repeals the waiver provision for hand harvest laborers.
- Requires increases civil penalties for child labor violations to $500-$15,000 per violation, and $15,000-$60,115 for violations causing serious injury, illness, or death, with penalties doubled for willful/repeated...
- Creates criminal penalties of up to 5 years imprisonment and/or fines for willful or repeated child labor violations that cause death, serious injury, or serious illness of workers under 18.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill defines congressional findings documenting that child farmworkers work in hazardous conditions at younger ages and longer hours than children in other industries, with inadequate federal protections and enforcement, requires redefines oppressive child labor to remove agricultural exemptions, making protections for children working in agriculture equal to those in other industries, and requires narrows child labor exemptions to only allow children under 18 to work on farms owned by their parents outside school hours, and repeals the waiver provision for hand harvest laborers.
Key Policy Areas
Labor, Agriculture, Trade
Primary Purpose
The bill defines congressional findings documenting that child farmworkers work in hazardous conditions at younger ages and longer hours than children in other industries, with inadequate federal protections and enforcement, requires redefines oppressive child labor to remove agricultural exemptions, making protections for children working in agriculture equal to those in other industries, and requires narrows child labor exemptions to only allow children under 18 to work on farms owned by their parents outside school hours, and repeals the waiver provision for hand harvest laborers.
Policy Domains
Fair Labor Standards Act Amendments
Identified Gains
- Child workers previously employed as pesticide handlers
- Child farmworkers on non-family farms
- Child farmworkers
- States with stronger child labor laws
- Child workers in hazardous conditions
Identified Costs
- Agricultural employers
- Department of Labor
- Pesticide application companies
- Employers with egregious child labor violations
- Employers violating child labor laws
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Ruiz introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Agricultural employers, Agricultural employers hiring workers under 18, Agricultural employers of child workers
Child agricultural workers, Child farmworkers, Child farmworkers on non-family farms
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division
Positive-direction: Department of Labor enforcement
Negative-direction: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, OSHA
State employment security agencies, States with stronger child labor laws
Positive-direction: States with stronger child labor laws
Negative-direction: State employment security agencies
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Employment of 16-17 year olds in occupations declared hazardous by the Secretary, employment of 14-15 year olds unless determined not to interfere with schooling/health, or employment of any child under 14
Any abnormal condition or disorder resulting from an event or exposure in the work environment; illnesses from events or exposures on employer premises are presumed work-related
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology