To safeguard the rights of workers and protect children by responsibly increasing civil monetary penalties and other means.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Scott of Virginia (for himself, Mr. Norcross, Mrs. Dingell, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The LET'S Protect Workers Act dramatically increases civil penalties for employers who violate federal labor and workplace safety laws. It aims to strengthen deterrence against child labor violations, workplace safety hazards, unfair labor practices against unions, and violations of family and medical leave requirements by making the financial consequences of breaking these laws much more severe.
Who Benefits and How
Workers across all industries benefit from stronger enforcement protections. Child workers gain protection from dangerous or illegal employment through penalties up to $700,000 for violations causing death or serious injury. Miners benefit from doubled penalties for mine operators with pattern safety violations. Union members and workers seeking to organize gain new protections through civil penalties up to $100,000 for repeat unfair labor practice violations, with personal liability for corporate directors and officers. Employees with employer health coverage benefit from stronger enforcement of mental health parity requirements.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Employers who violate labor laws face dramatically higher financial penalties: child labor violations jump from current levels to $150,000-$700,000; willful OSHA violations increase from $70,000 to $800,000; FLSA violations rise from $1,100 to $25,000-$50,000. Mine operators face withdrawal orders if they fail to pay safety violation penalties, effectively shutting down operations. Health plan administrators and insurers face new liability for mental health parity violations. Corporate directors and officers can be held personally liable for unfair labor practices.
Key Provisions
- Increases child labor violation penalties to $150,000 per employee ($700,000 if death or serious injury occurs, doubled for repeat offenders)
- Raises maximum OSHA penalties from $70,000 to $800,000 for willful violations causing death
- Creates new $50,000-$100,000 civil penalties for unfair labor practices under the National Labor Relations Act
- Allows personal liability for corporate directors and officers who direct, enable, or fail to prevent unfair labor practices
- Doubles mine safety penalties for operators with pattern violations and authorizes mine closure for unpaid penalties
- Expands ERISA enforcement to hold health plan administrators and insurers accountable for mental health parity violations
- Treats recordkeeping violations as continuing offenses until compliance, enabling larger cumulative penalties
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Significantly increases civil and criminal penalties for violations of major federal labor and workplace safety laws to strengthen enforcement and protect workers, including children.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Dramatically increase civil penalties across multiple labor laws to create stronger deterrence against violations and ensure meaningful enforcement."
Likely Beneficiaries
- Workers (adult and child)
- Labor unions and union members
- Miners
- Employees seeking FMLA leave
- Employees in health plans requiring mental health parity
Likely Burden Bearers
- Employers violating child labor laws
- Employers violating OSHA regulations
- Mine operators
- Employers committing unfair labor practices
- Health plan sponsors and administrators violating ERISA
- Migrant and seasonal agricultural employers
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_board"
- → National Labor Relations Board
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An order requiring an operator to cause all persons, except those referred to in section 104(c), to be withdrawn from, and to be prohibited from entering, the mine that is covered by the final order.
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