Children’s Act for Responsible Employment of 2017

Summary: Children's Act for Responsible Employment of 2017 or the CARE Act of 2017 This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to redefine "oppressive child labor," for purposes of the Act's child labor prohibitions, as the employment of any employee who is:   16 or 17 years of age in any occupation found by the Department of Labor to be particularly hazardous or detrimental to such employee's health or well-being; 14 or 15 years of age, unless the employment is confined to periods which do not interfere with the employee's schooling, health, and well-being; or under age 14.   The bill revises exemptions for child agricultural employment.   The bill increases civil penalties for child labor violations and imposes new criminal penalties for repeated or willful violations of child labor prohibitions that result in serious illness or injury of an employee under age 18. Labor shall revise regulations to prohibit the employment of children under age 18 in duties involving the handling of pesticides.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Children's Act for Responsible 
Employment of 2017'' or the ``CARE Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. AMENDED DEFINITIONS.

    Section 3(l) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
203(l)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(l) `Oppressive child labor' means a condition of employment 
under which--
            ``(1) any employee who is 16 or 17 years of age is employed 
        by an employer in any occupation found by the Secretary and by 
        order declared to be particularly hazardous for the employment 
        of children between such ages or detrimental to their health or 
        well-being;
            ``(2) any employee who is 14 or 15 years of age is employed 
        by an employer, unless the Secretary has determined that the 
        employment is confined to periods which will not interfere with 
        the schooling of the employee, and that the conditions of 
        employment will not interfere with the health and well-being of 
        the employee; or
            ``(3) any employee who is under 14 years of age is employed 
        by an employer.''.

SEC. 3. REVISED AGE REQUIREMENT FOR CHILD AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT; 
              REPEAL OF WAIVER PROVISION FOR HAND HARVEST LABORERS.

    (a) Revised Age Requirement.--Section 13(c) of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(c)) is amended by striking 
paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting the following:
            ``(1) The provisions of section 12 relating to child labor 
        shall not apply to any employee under 18 years of age who is 
        employed in agriculture by his or her parent, or by a person 
        standing in the place of the parent, on a farm owned by the 
        parent or person.
            ``(2) The provisions of section 12 relating to child labor 
        shall not apply to any employee under 16 years of age who is 
        employed by his or her parent, or by a person standing in the 
        place of the parent, in employment other than agricultural 
        employment, manufacturing, mining, or any other employment the 
        Secretary finds to be particularly hazardous for the employment 
        of a child 16 or 17 years of age or detrimental to their health 
        or well-being.''.
    (b) Repeal of Waiver Provision.--Section 13(c) of such Act (29 
U.S.C. 213(c)) is further amended by striking paragraph (4) and 
redesignating paragraphs (5) through (7) as paragraphs (4) through (6), 
respectively.

SEC. 4. INCREASED CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CHILD LABOR VIOLATIONS.

    Paragraph (1) of section 16(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(e)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``person'' each place it appears and 
        inserting ``employer'';
            (2) in subparagraph (A)--
                    (A) by striking ``not to exceed'' and inserting 
                ``of''; and
                    (B) by amending clauses (i) and (ii) to read as 
                follows:
            ``(i) not less than $500 and not more than $15,000 for each 
        employee who was the subject of such a violation; or
            ``(ii) not less than $15,000 and not more than $50,000 with 
        regard to each such violation that causes the serious injury, 
        serious illness, or death of any employee under the age of 18 
        years, which penalty may be doubled where the violation is a 
        repeated or willful violation.''; and
            (3) in subparagraph (B) by striking ``the term `serious 
        injury' means'' and inserting ``the terms `serious injury' and 
        `serious illness' mean''.

SEC. 5. SPECIAL CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN AGGRAVATED CHILD LABOR 
              VIOLATIONS.

    Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``Any person'' and 
        inserting ``Except as provided in subsection (f), any person''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Any person who repeatedly or willfully violates any of the 
provisions of section 12, and such violations result in or cause the 
death or serious injury or serious illness of an employee under 18 
years of age at the time of such violation, shall be subject to 
imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine under title 18, United 
States Code, or both.''.

SEC. 6. PESTICIDE-RELATED WORKER PROTECTION STANDARD.

    Congress finds and declares that the employment of children under 
the age of 18 in the occupation of a pesticide handler as defined in 
the worker protection standard for workers exposed to pesticides in 
part 170 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, is particularly 
hazardous to such children and detrimental to their health and well-
being. The Secretary of Labor shall revise part 570 of title 29, Code 
of Federal Regulations, to prohibit the employment of a child under the 
age of 18 to perform any of the tasks or duties described in the 
definition of the term ``handler'' in section 170.3 of title 40, Code 
of Federal Regulations.

SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF FAIR LABOR STANDARDS AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Rulemaking.--The Secretary of Labor may prescribe rules as 
necessary to implement the amendments made by sections 2 through 5 and 
the revision required by section 6. Any such rules issued shall take 
effect not later than 30 days after the date on which the such rules 
are published in the Federal Register.
    (b) Violations.--The amendments made by sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 and 
the revision required by section 7 shall apply to violations of the 
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) that occur 
after the date on which the rules issued under subsection (a) take 
effect.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in the amendments made by 
section 3, 4, or 5 or in the revision required by section 7 shall be 
construed to preempt any State law that provides protections or 
remedies for employees that are greater than the protections or 
remedies provided under such amendments or such revision.