I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2674 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase penalties 

for violations of child labor laws, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 12, 2007 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD (for herself, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

CUMMINGS, Mr. WEXLER, and Ms. DELAURO) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase 

penalties for violations of child labor laws, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Children’s Act for Responsible Employment of 2007’’ or 

6 the ‘‘CARE Act of 2007’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short Title; Table of Contents. 
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Sec. 2. Revised Age Requirement for Child Agricultural Employment; Repeal of 

Waiver Provision for Hand Harvest Laborers. 

Sec. 3. Increased Civil Penalties for Child Labor Violations. 

Sec. 4. Special Criminal Penalties for Certain Aggravated Child Labor Violations. 

Sec. 5. Report to Congress on Work-Related Injuries to Children and Related 

Matters. 

Sec. 6. Employer Reporting Requirements. 

Sec. 7. Pesticide-Related Worker Protection Standard. 

Sec. 8. Application of Fair Labor Standards Amendments. 

1 SEC. 2. REVISED AGE REQUIREMENT FOR CHILD AGRICUL2 TURAL EMPLOYMENT; REPEAL OF WAIVER 

3 PROVISION FOR HAND HARVEST LABORERS. 

4 (a) REVISED AGE REQUIREMENT.—Section 13(c) of 

5 the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(c)) 

6 is amended by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and insert7 ing the following: 

8 ‘‘(c)(1) The provisions of section 12 relating to child 

9 labor shall not apply to any employee under 16 years of 

10 age employed in agriculture, including in an agricultural 

11 occupation that the Secretary of Labor finds and declares 

12 to be particularly hazardous under section 3(l), if— 

13 ‘‘(A) the employee is employed by a parent of 

14 the employee or by a person standing in the place 

15 of the parent, on a farm owned or operated by the 

16 parent or person; and 

17 ‘‘(B) the employment is outside of school hours 

18 for the school district where the employee is living 

19 while so employed.’’. 
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1 (b) REPEAL OF WAIVER PROVISION.—Section 13(c) 

2 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 213(c)) is further amended by 

3 striking paragraph (4). 

4 SEC. 3. INCREASED CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CHILD LABOR 

5 VIOLATIONS. 

6 Section 16(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 

7 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(e)) is amended— 

8 (1) in the first sentence by striking ‘‘not to ex9 ceed $10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘not less than $500 

10 and not more than $50,000’’; and 

11 (2) by inserting after the first sentence the fol12 lowing new sentences: ‘‘In the case of a violation 

13 under the preceding sentence that results in a seri14 ous lost-time work-related injury or a serious lost15 time work-related illness (as such terms are defined 

16 in section 12A(c)) to an employee or results in the 

17 death of an employee, the civil penalty shall be not 

18 more than $50,000. In the case of a repeated or 

19 willful violation that results in a serious lost-time 

20 work-related injury or a serious lost-time work-re21 lated illness to an employee or results in the death 

22 of an employee, the civil penalty shall be not more 

23 than $100,000.’’. 
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1 SEC. 4. SPECIAL CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN AG2 GRAVATED CHILD LABOR VIOLATIONS. 

3 Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

4 (29 U.S.C. 216) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(f) Any person who repeatedly or willfully violates 

7 any of the provisions of section 12, and such violations 

8 result in or contribute to the death or permanent disability 

9 of an employee under 18 years of age at the time of such 

10 violation, shall be subject to imprisonment for not more 

11 than five years or a fine under title 18, United States 

12 Code, or both.’’. 

13 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON WORK-RELATED INJU14 RIES TO CHILDREN AND RELATED MATTERS. 

15 The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is amended 

16 by inserting after section 12 (29 U.S.C. 212) the following 

17 new section: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 12A. DATA ON WORK-RELATED INJURIES TO CHIL19 DREN AND RELATED MATTERS. 

20 ‘‘(a) DATA ANALYSIS.—Using the sources specified 

21 in subsection (b), the Secretary shall analyze data con22 cerning children under the age of 18 who are employed 

23 in agriculture, and with respect to such children, each seri24 ous lost-time work-related injury, serious lost-time work25 related illness, or work-related death. 
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1 ‘‘(b) SOURCES SPECIFIED.—The sources referred to 

2 in subsection (a) are the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) Sources within the Department of Labor, 

4 including the Wage and Hour Division, the Bureau 

5 of Labor Statistics, and the Occupational Safety and 

6 Health Administration. 

7 ‘‘(2) State employment security agencies and 

8 other relevant State agencies. 

9 ‘‘(3) The National Institute for Occupational 

10 Safety and Health. 

11 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) The term ‘serious lost-time work-related 

13 injury’ means, with respect to an employee under 18 

14 years of age, a work-related injury which results in 

15 lost employment time for such employee of at least 

16 one work day. 

17 ‘‘(2) The term ‘serious lost-time work-related 

18 illness’ means, with respect to an employee under 18 

19 years of age, a work-related illness which results in 

20 lost employment time for such employee of at least 

21 one work day. 

22 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit an an23 nual report to Congress which shall include the fol24 lowing— 
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1 ‘‘(1) a summary of the data collected by the 

2 Secretary under this section and section 12B; 

3 ‘‘(2) an evaluation, based on such data, that re4 flects the status of child labor and related safety and 

5 health hazards; and 

6 ‘‘(3) any information, based on such data, that 

7 leads the Secretary to believe that children under 18 

8 years of age may have been employed in violation of 

9 section 12.’’. 

10 SEC. 6. EMPLOYER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

11 The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 

12 201 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 12A, 

13 as added by section 5, the following new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 12B EMPLOYER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

15 ‘‘(a) REPORT.—Not later than five days after an 

16 event specified under subsection (b), the employer involved 

17 in the event shall submit a report to the Secretary in ac18 cordance with subsection (c). 

19 ‘‘(b) EVENTS SPECIFIED.—An event referred to in 

20 subsection (a) is— 

21 ‘‘(1) a serious lost-time work-related injury to 

22 an employee under 18 years of age employed in agri23 culture; 
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1 ‘‘(2) the discovery of a serious lost-time work2 related illness of an employee under 18 years of age 

3 employed in agriculture; or 

4 ‘‘(3) a work-related death of an employee under 

5 18 years of age employed in agriculture. 

6 ‘‘(c) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report required by 

7 subsection (a) shall include— 

8 ‘‘(1) the name and address of the employer; 

9 ‘‘(2) the name, address, and age of the em10 ployee; 

11 ‘‘(3) details about the injury, illness, or death 

12 of the employee; and 

13 ‘‘(4) such other information as the Secretary of 

14 Labor may by regulation prescribe. 

15 ‘‘(d) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO REPORT.—The Sec16 retary may assess a civil penalty on any employer who fails 

17 to file a report as required by this section in an amount 

18 up to $7,000 per violation. 

19 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the terms 

20 ‘serious lost-time work-related injury’ and ‘serious lost21 time work-related illness’ have the meanings given those 

22 terms in section 12A.’’. 
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1 SEC. 7. PESTICIDE-RELATED WORKER PROTECTION STAND2 ARD. 

3 (a) INCORPORATION OF WORKER PROTECTION

4 STANDARD IN CHILD LABOR PROVISIONS.—Not later 

5 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

6 the Secretary of Labor shall issue final rules to incor7 porate within the rules relating to the child labor provi8 sions of section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 

9 1938 (29 U.S.C. 212) the worker protection standard for 

10 workers exposed to pesticides in part 170 of title 40, Code 

11 of Federal Regulations. If, after incorporating such stand12 ard, the standard in such part is revised, the Secretary 

13 shall, by rule, incorporate such revisions within the rules 

14 relating to the child labor provisions of section 12 of the 

15 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 212). 

16 (b) RECONCILIATION OF CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 

17 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 

18 216), as amended by sections 3 and 4, is further amended 

19 by adding at the end the following new subsections: 

20 ‘‘(g) The amount of a civil penalty imposed by the 

21 Secretary on a violator for a violation of section 12 of this 

22 Act may be offset by the Administrator of the Environ23 mental Protection Agency against the amount of a civil 

24 penalty imposed by the Administrator for a violation of 

25 the worker protection standard promulgated under the 

26 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 
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1 U.S.C. prec. 121 et seq.) by the same violator if the Ad2 ministrator determines that the violation of such standard 

3 involved the same conduct affecting the same child work4 ers in whose interests the first civil penalty was imposed. 

5 ‘‘(h) The amount of a civil penalty imposed by the 

6 Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency on 

7 a violator for a violation of the worker protection standard 

8 promulgated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, 

9 and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. prec. 121 et seq.) may be 

10 offset by the Secretary against the amount of a civil pen11 alty imposed by the Secretary for a violation of section 

12 12 of this Act by the same violator if the Secretary deter13 mines that the violation of such section involved the same 

14 conduct affecting the same child workers in whose inter15 ests the first civil penalty was imposed.’’. 

16 SEC. 8. APPLICATION OF FAIR LABOR STANDARDS AMEND17 MENTS. 

18 (a) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 180 days after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall 

20 issue final rules to implement the amendments made by 

21 sections 2 through 6. The rules issued under this sub22 section shall take effect not later than 30 days after the 

23 date on which the final rules are published in the Federal 

24 Register. 
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1 (b) VIOLATIONS.—The amendments made by sections 

2 3 and 4 shall apply to violations of the Fair Labor Stand3 ards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) that occur after 

4 the date on which the rules issued under subsection (a) 

5 take effect. 

6 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in the 

7 amendments made by section 3 or 4 shall be construed 

8 to preempt any State law that provides protections or rem9 edies for employees that are greater than the protections 

10 or remedies provided under such amendments. 

11 (d) EMPLOYER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The 

12 employer reporting requirements of section 12B of the 

13 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as added by section 

14 6, shall take effect on the date on which the final rules 

15 issued under subsection (a) take effect. 

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