II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 637 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to apply child labor 

laws to independent contractors, increase penalties for child labor law 

violations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 2, 2023 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. CORTEZ

MASTO, Ms. BALDWIN, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to apply 

child labor laws to independent contractors, increase penalties for child labor law violations, 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Labor Preven5 tion Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS 

2 ACT OF 1938. 

3 (a) APPLICATION TO WORKERS.—The Fair Labor 

4 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) in section 3 (29 U.S.C. 203)— 

7 (A) in subsection (d)— 

8 (i) by striking ‘‘ ‘Employer’ includes’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘(1) ‘Employer’ includes’’; 

10 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(or, for purposes of 

11 any child labor provision of this Act, in12 cluding paragraph (2), subsection (aa), 

13 section 12, and any provision of this Act 

14 administering or enforcing such a child 

15 labor provision, a worker)’’ after ‘‘em16 ployee’’; and 

17 (iii) by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision in this sec20 tion, for purposes of any child labor provision of this Act, 

21 including subsections (l) and (aa), section 12, and any 

22 provision of this Act administering or enforcing such a 

23 child labor provision, the term ‘employer’ includes any per24 son engaging an individual (including an independent con25 tractor) for the performance of work.’’; 

26 (B) in subsection (j)— 


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1 (i) by inserting ‘‘(or, for purposes of 

2 any child labor provision of this Act, in3 cluding section 12 and any provision of 

4 this Act administering or enforcing such a 

5 child labor provision, worker)’’ after ‘‘em6 ployee’’ each place it appears; and 

7 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(or, for purposes of 

8 any child labor provision of this Act, in9 cluding section 12 and any provision of 

10 this Act administering or enforcing such a 

11 child labor provision, engaged for work)’’ 

12 after ‘‘was employed’’; 

13 (C) in subsection (l)— 

14 (i) by striking ‘‘employment under’’ 

15 and inserting ‘‘work under’’; 

16 (ii) by striking ‘‘employee’’ each place 

17 it appears and inserting ‘‘worker’’; 

18 (iii) by striking ‘‘is employed by’’ each 

19 place it appears and inserting ‘‘performs 

20 work for’’; 

21 (iv) by striking ‘‘employing’’ and in22 serting ‘‘engaging for work’’; 

23 (v) by striking ‘‘employment of’’ each 

24 place it appears and inserting ‘‘engage25 ment for work of’’; 


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1 (vi) by striking ‘‘employment in’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘engagement for work in’’; 

3 (vii) by striking ‘‘employees’’ and in4 serting ‘‘workers’’; and 

5 (viii) by striking ‘‘such employment’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘such work’’; 

7 (D) in subsection (s), by inserting ‘‘(or, for 

8 purposes of any child labor provision of this 

9 Act, including section 12 and any provision of 

10 this Act administering or enforcing such a child 

11 labor provision, workers)’’ after ‘‘employees’’ 

12 each place it appears; and 

13 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(z) ‘Work’, for purposes of any child labor provision 

15 of this Act, including subsections (d)(2), (l), and (aa), sec16 tion 12, and any provision of this Act administering or 

17 enforcing such a child labor provision, means the perform18 ance of services for remuneration, including employment. 

19 ‘‘(aa) ‘Worker’, for purposes of any child labor provi20 sion of this Act, including subsection (l), section 12, and 

21 any provision of this Act administering or enforcing such 

22 a child labor provision, means any individual (including 

23 an independent contractor or an employee) engaged for 

24 work by an employer.’’; 

25 (2) in section 11 (29 U.S.C. 211)— 


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1 (A) in subsection (a)— 

2 (i) by inserting ‘‘(or, for purposes of 

3 any child labor provision of this Act, in4 cluding section 12 and any provision of 

5 this Act administering or enforcing such a 

6 child labor provision, work)’’ after ‘‘em7 ployment’’; and 

8 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(or, for purposes of 

9 any child labor provision of this Act, in10 cluding section 12 and any provision of 

11 this Act administering or enforcing such a 

12 child labor provision, workers)’’ after 

13 ‘‘such employees’’; and 

14 (B) in subsection (c)— 

15 (i) by inserting ‘‘or, for purposes of 

16 any child labor provision of this Act, in17 cluding section 12 and any provision of 

18 this Act administering or enforcing such a 

19 child labor provision, the persons working 

20 for the employer’’ after ‘‘employed by 

21 him’’; and 

22 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(or, for purposes of 

23 any such child labor provision of this Act, 

24 work)’’ after ‘‘employment’’; 

25 (3) in section 12 (29 U.S.C. 212)— 


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1 (A) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘employ2 ment of’’ and inserting ‘‘engagement for work 

3 of’’; and 

4 (B) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘em5 ployee’’ and inserting ‘‘worker’’; 

6 (4) in section 13 (29 U.S.C. 213)— 

7 (A) in subsection (c)— 

8 (i) in paragraph (1)— 

9 (I) in the matter preceding sub10 paragraph (A)— 

11 (aa) by striking ‘‘employee’’ 

12 each place it appears and insert13 ing ‘‘worker’’; 

14 (bb) by striking ‘‘employed 

15 in’’ and inserting ‘‘engaged for 

16 work in’’; and 

17 (cc) by striking ‘‘so em18 ployed’’ and inserting ‘‘so en19 gaged’’; 

20 (II) in subparagraph (A)— 

21 (aa) by striking ‘‘employed 

22 by’’ and inserting ‘‘engaged for 

23 work by’’; 


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1 (bb) by striking ‘‘is em2 ployed with’’ by inserting ‘‘is en3 gaged for work with’’; and 

4 (cc) by striking ‘‘employees’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘workers’’; and 

6 (III) in subparagraph (B)— 

7 (aa) by striking ‘‘such em8 ployment’’ and inserting ‘‘such 

9 engagement for work’’; 

10 (bb) by striking ‘‘employed’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘engaged for 

12 work’’; and 

13 (cc) by striking ‘‘employee’’ 

14 and inserting ‘‘worker’’; 

15 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 

16 (I) by striking ‘‘employee’’ each 

17 place it appears and inserting ‘‘work18 er’’; 

19 (II) by striking ‘‘employed in’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘engaged for work in’’; 

21 (III) by striking ‘‘employment 

22 of’’ and inserting ‘‘engagement for 

23 work of’’; and 

24 (IV) by striking ‘‘employed by’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘so engaged by’’; 


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1 (iii) in paragraph (3), by striking 

2 ‘‘employed’’ and inserting ‘‘engaged for 

3 work’’; 

4 (iv) in paragraph (4)— 

5 (I) in subparagraph (A)— 

6 (aa) in the matter preceding 

7 clause (i)— 

8 (AA) by striking ‘‘em9 ployment’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘engagement for work’’; and 

11 (BB) by striking ‘‘em12 ployed’’ and inserting ‘‘en13 gaged for work’’; 

14 (bb) in clause (ii), by strik15 ing ‘‘employment’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘engagement for work’’; 

17 (cc) in clause (iv), by strik18 ing ‘‘employment’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘engagement for work’’; and 

20 (dd) in clause (v), by strik21 ing ‘‘employed’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘engaged for work’’; and 

23 (II) in subparagraph (B), by 

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1 pears and inserting ‘‘engaged for 

2 work’’; 

3 (v) in paragraph (5)— 

4 (I) by striking ‘‘employee’’ each 

5 place it appears and inserting ‘‘work6 er’’; 

7 (II) by striking ‘‘employees’’ each 

8 place it appears and inserting ‘‘work9 ers’’; and 

10 (III) in subparagraph (C)— 

11 (aa) in clause (i), by striking 

12 ‘‘employee’s’’ each place it ap13 pears and inserting ‘‘worker’s’’; 

14 and 

15 (bb) in clause (iii)(I), by 

16 striking ‘‘employment’’ and in17 serting ‘‘work’’; 

18 (vi) in paragraph (6)— 

19 (I) in the matter preceding sub20 paragraph (A)— 

21 (aa) by striking ‘‘employees 

22 who are under’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘workers who are under’’; and 


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1 (bb) by striking ‘‘Employee 

2 who are 17’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘Workers who are 17’’; 

4 (II) by striking ‘‘employee’’ each 

5 place it appears and inserting ‘‘work6 er’’; 

7 (III) by striking ‘‘employee’s’’ 

8 each place it appears and inserting 

9 ‘‘worker’s’’; 

10 (IV) by striking ‘‘of employment’’ 

11 each place it appears and inserting 

12 ‘‘of work’’; 

13 (V) in subparagraph (F), by 

14 striking ‘‘employees of’’ each place it 

15 appears and inserting ‘‘workers of’’; 

16 and 

17 (VI) in subparagraph (G), by 

18 striking ‘‘employment’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘engagement for work’’; and 

20 (vii) in paragraph (7)— 

21 (I) in subparagraph (A)(i), by 

22 striking ‘‘employed’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘engaged for work’’; and 

24 (II) in subparagraph (B), in the 

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1 ing ‘‘employment’’ and inserting ‘‘en2 gagement for work’’; 

3 (B) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘(or, for 

4 purposes of section 12, worker)’’ after ‘‘any em5 ployee’’; and 

6 (C) in subsection (f), by inserting ‘‘(or, for 

7 purposes of section 11 (with respect to any 

8 child labor provision of this Act) and 12, work9 er)’’ after ‘‘any employee’’; 

10 (5) in section 16(e)(1)(A) (29 U.S.C. 

11 216(e)(1)(A)), by striking ‘‘employee’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘worker’’; and 

13 (6) in section 18C (29 U.S.C. 218c)— 

14 (A) by inserting ‘‘(or, for purposes of any 

15 child labor provision of this Act, including sec16 tion 12 and any provision of this Act admin17 istering or enforcing such a child labor provi18 sion, worker)’’ after ‘‘employee’’ each place it 

19 appears; and 

20 (B) by inserting ‘‘(or, for purposes of any 

21 child labor provision of this Act, including sec22 tion 12 and any provision of this Act admin23 istering or enforcing such a child labor provi24 sion, of work)’’ after ‘‘employment’’ each place 

25 it appears. 


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1 (b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 16(e)(1) of the Fair 

2 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(e)(1)), as 

3 amended by subsection (a)(5), is further amended— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 

5 (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 

6 striking ‘‘not to exceed’’ and inserting ‘‘of an 

7 amount (subject to subparagraph (C)) that is’’; 

8 (B) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘$11,000’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘not less than $5,000 and not 

10 more than $132,270’’; and 

11 (C) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘$50,000’’ 

12 and inserting ‘‘not less than $25,000 and not 

13 more than $601,150’’; and 

14 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(C) The dollar amounts referred to in clauses 

16 (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) shall be increased 

17 annually, for fiscal year 2024 and every fiscal year 

18 thereafter, by the percent increase, if any, in the 

19 consumer price index for all urban consumers (all 

20 items; United States city average) for the most re21 cent 12-month period for which applicable data is 

22 available.’’. 

23 (c) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 16(a) of the Fair 

24 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(a)) is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) Any’’; 

2 (2) by inserting ‘‘(other than subsection (a)(4) 

3 of such section)’’ after ‘‘section 15’’; 

4 (3) by striking ‘‘subsection’’ each place it ap5 pears and inserting ‘‘paragraph’’; and 

6 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

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

8 section 15(a)(4) shall upon conviction thereof be subject 

9 to a fine of not more than $50,000, or to imprisonment 

10 for not more than 1 year, or both.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

12 (a) APPLICATION TO ALL WORKERS.—The amend13 ments made by section 2(a) shall take effect on the date 

14 that is 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

15 (b) PENALTIES.—The amendments made by sub16 sections (b) and (c) of section 2 shall apply with respect 

17 to violations alleged to have occurred on or after the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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