I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2637 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act, with respect to civil penalties 

for child labor violations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 8, 2007 

Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. MCKEON, and Mr. HARE) introduced the following 

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

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act, with respect to 

civil penalties for child labor violations. 

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Labor Protection 

5 Act of 2007’’. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 16(e) of the Fair Labor 

7 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(e)) is amended to 

8 read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(e)(1)(A) Any person who violates the provisions of 

10 sections 12 or 13(c), relating to child labor, or any regulaVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:58 Jun 08, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2637.IH H2637

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1 tion issued pursuant to such sections, shall be subject to 

2 a civil penalty not to exceed— 

3 ‘‘(i) $11,000 for each employee who 

4 was the subject of such a violation; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) $50,000 with regard to each 

6 such violation that causes the death or se7 rious injury of any employee under the age 

8 of 18 years, which penalty may be doubled 

9 where the violation is a repeated or willful 

10 violation. 

11 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term ‘se12 rious injury’ means— 

13 ‘‘(i) permanent loss or substantial impairment 

14 of one of the senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, tac15 tile sensation); 

16 ‘‘(ii) permanent loss or substantial impairment 

17 of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental 

18 faculty, including the loss of all or part of an arm, 

19 leg, foot, hand or other body part; or 

20 ‘‘(iii) permanent paralysis or substantial im21 pairment that causes loss of movement or mobility 

22 of an arm, leg, foot, hand or other body part. 

23 ‘‘(2) Any person who repeatedly or willfully violates 

24 section 6 or 7, relating to wages, shall be subject to a 

25 civil penalty not to exceed $1,100 for each such violation. 


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1 ‘‘(3) In determining the amount of any penalty under 

2 this subsection, the appropriateness of such penalty to the 

3 size of the business of the person charged and the gravity 

4 of the violation shall be considered. The amount of any 

5 penalty under this subsection, when finally determined, 

6 may be— 

7 ‘‘(A) deducted from any sums owing by the 

8 United States to the person charged; 

9 ‘‘(B) recovered in a civil action brought by the 

10 Secretary in any court of competent jurisdiction, in 

11 which litigation the Secretary shall be represented 

12 by the Solicitor of Labor; or 

13 ‘‘(C) ordered by the court, in an action brought 

14 for a violation of section 15(a)(4) or a repeated or 

15 willful violation of section 15(a)(2), to be paid to the 

16 Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(4) Any administrative determination by the Sec18 retary of the amount of any penalty under this subsection 

19 shall be final, unless within 15 days after receipt of notice 

20 thereof by certified mail the person charged with the viola21 tion takes exception to the determination that the viola22 tions for which the penalty is imposed occurred, in which 

23 event final determination of the penalty shall be made in 

24 an administrative proceeding after opportunity for hearing 


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1 in accordance with section 554 of title 5, United States 

2 Code, and regulations to be promulgated by the Secretary. 

3 ‘‘(5) Except for civil penalties collected for violations 

4 of sections 12 or 13(c), sums collected as penalties pursu5 ant to this section shall be applied toward reimbursement 

6 of the costs of determining the violations and assessing 

7 and collecting such penalties, in accordance with the provi8 sion of section 2 of the Act entitled ‘An Act to authorize 

9 the Department of Labor to make special statistical stud10 ies upon payment of the cost thereof and for other pur11 poses’ (29 U.S.C. 9a). Civil penalties collected for viola12 tions of sections 12 or 13(c) shall be deposited in the gen13 eral fund of the Treasury.’’. 

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

16 of this Act. 

Æ 


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