II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2127

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for legal accountability for sweatshop conditions in the garment industry, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide

for legal accountability for sweatshop conditions in the

garment industry, 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 AND REFERENCE.

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

5 ‘‘Stop Sweatshops Act of 1996’’.

6 (b) REFERENCE.—Whenever in this Act an amend7 ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment

8 to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference

9 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi-
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1 sion of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.

2 201 et seq.).

3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

4 The Congress makes the following findings:

5 (1) The production of garments in violation of

6 minimum labor standards burdens commerce and

7 the free flow of goods in commerce by spreading and

8 perpetuating labor conditions that undermine mini9 mum living standards and by providing an unfair

10 means of competition to the detriment of employers

11 who comply with the law.

12 (2) The existence of working conditions det13 rimental to fair competition and the maintenance of

14 minimum standards of living necessary for health,

15 efficiency, and general well-being of workers is a

16 continuing and growing problem in the domestic gar17 ment industry.

18 (3) The Congress concurs in the findings of the

19 Comptroller General that most sweatshop employers

20 violate the recordkeeping requirements of the Fair

21 Labor Standards Act of 1938 and that the failure

22 of such employers to maintain adequate records has

23 affected, and continues to affect adversely, the abil24 ity of the Department of Labor to collect wages due

25 to workers.
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1 (4) The amendment of the Fair Labor Stand2 ards Act of 1938 to provide for legal responsibility

3 on the part of manufacturers for compliance with

4 such Act’s wage and hour, child labor, and industrial

5 homework provisions by contractors in the garment

6 industry and to provide civil penalties for violations

7 of that Act’s recordkeeping requirements is nec8 essary to promote fair competition and working con9 ditions that are not detrimental to the maintenance

10 of health, efficiency, and general well-being of work11 ers in the garment industry.

12 SEC. 3. LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMPLIANCE WITH

13 WAGE AND HOUR PROVISIONS IN THE GAR14 MENT INDUSTRY.

15 (a) AMENDMENT.—The Fair Labor Standards Act of

16 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by inserting

17 after section 14 the following:

18 ‘‘LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMPLIANCE IN THE

19 GARMENT INDUSTRY WITH SECTIONS 6 AND 7

20 ‘‘SEC. 14A. (a) Every manufacturer engaged in the

21 garment industry who contracts to have garment manu22 facturing operations performed by another person as a

23 contractor—

24 ‘‘(1) shall be civilly liable, with respect to those

25 garment manufacturing operations, to the same ex26 tent as the contractor for any violation by the con-
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1 tractor of section 6 (except for violations of sub2 section (d)) or 7, for any violation by the contractor

3 of the provisions of section 11 regulating, restrict4 ing, or prohibiting industrial homework, and for vio5 lation by the contractor of section 12; and

6 ‘‘(2) shall be subject to the same civil penalties

7 assessed against the contractor for violations of such

8 sections.

9 ‘‘(b) For purposes of this section:

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘garment industry’ means the

11 designing, cutting, sewing, dyeing, washing, finish12 ing, assembling, pressing, or otherwise producing

13 men’s, women’s, children’s, or infants’ apparel (in14 cluding clothing, knit goods, hats, gloves, handbags,

15 hosiery, ties, scarves, and belts, or a section or com16 ponent of apparel, except for premanufactured items

17 such as buttons, zippers, snaps, and studs) that is

18 designed or intended to be worn by any individual

19 and that is to be sold or offered for sale.

20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘manufacturer’ means any per21 son, including a retailer, who—

22 ‘‘(A) contracts, directly or indirectly

23 through an intermediary or otherwise, with a

24 contractor to perform the cutting, sewing, dye25 ing, washing, finishing, assembling, pressing, or
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1 otherwise producing of any men’s, women’s,

2 children’s, or infants’ apparel (including cloth3 ing, knit goods, hats, gloves, handbags, hosiery,

4 ties, scarves, and belts, or a section or compo5 nent of apparel, except for premanufactured

6 items such as buttons, zippers, snaps, and

7 studs) that is designed or intended to be worn

8 by any individual and that is to be sold or of9 fered for sale; or

10 ‘‘(B) designs, cuts, sews, dyes, washes, fin11 ishes, assembles, presses, or otherwise produces

12 or is responsible for the production of any

13 men’s, women’s, children’s, or infants’ apparel

14 (including clothing, knit goods, hats, gloves,

15 handbags, hosiery, ties, scarves, and belts, or a

16 section or component of apparel, except for

17 premanufactured items such as buttons, zip18 pers, snaps, and studs) that is designed or in19 tended to be worn by any individual and that

20 is to be sold or offered for sale.

21 ‘‘(3) The term ‘contractor’ means any person

22 who contracts, directly or indirectly through an

23 intermediary or otherwise, with a manufacturer to

24 perform the cutting, sewing, dyeing, washing, finish25 ing, assembling, pressing, or otherwise producing of
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1 any men’s, women’s, children’s, or infants’ apparel

2 (including clothing, knit goods, hats, gloves, hand3 bags, hosiery, ties, scarves, and belts, or a section or

4 component of apparel, except for premanufactured

5 items such as buttons, zippers, snaps, and studs)

6 that is designed or intended to be worn by any indi7 vidual and that is to be sold or offered for sale.

8 ‘‘(4) The term ‘retailer’ means any person en9 gaged in the sale of apparel to the ultimate

10 consumer for personal use.’’.

11 (b) LIABILITY TO EMPLOYEES.—Section 16 (29

12 U.S.C. 216) is amended—

13 (1) in subsection (b), by inserting after the first

14 sentence the following: ‘‘A manufacturer in the gar15 ment industry (as defined in section 14A(b)(2)) shall

16 also be jointly and severally liable to such an em17 ployee to the same extent as the contractor in the

18 garment industry (as defined in section 14A(b)(3))

19 who employed such employee if the contractor vio20 lated section 6 (other than subsection (d)) or 7 in

21 the production of apparel or components of apparel

22 for such manufacturer.’’;

23 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting in the last

24 sentence ‘‘or by a manufacturer in the garment in25 dustry’’ after ‘‘by an employer’’; and
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1 (3) in subsection (c)—

2 (A) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘first

3 sentence’’ and inserting ‘‘first or second sen4 tence’’; and

5 (B) in the third sentence, by inserting ‘‘or

6 by a manufacturer in the garment industry’’

7 after ‘‘liable’’.

8 SEC. 4. RECORDKEEPING.

9 Section 16(e) (29 U.S.C. 216(e)) is amended by in10 serting after the first sentence the following: ‘‘Any person

11 who fails to establish, maintain, and preserve payroll

12 records as required under section 11(c) shall be subject

13 to a civil penalty of not to exceed $1,000 for each employee

14 who was the subject of such a violation. The Secretary

15 may, in the Secretary’s discretion, impose civil penalties

16 under this subsection for willful violations. Any person

17 who submits fraudulent payroll records to the agencies en18 forcing this Act in any of the agencies’ investigations or

19 hearings, or as evidence in a court action, that conceal

20 the actual hours of labor worked by employees or the viola21 tion of section 6, 7, 11(d), or 12 shall be subject to a

22 civil penalty of $10,000 for each act of fraud and $15,000

23 for each act of fraud for a second offense.’’.
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1 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect

3 upon the expiration of 30 days after the date of enactment

4 of this Act.

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