I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1106

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to reform the provisions

relating to child labor.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 24, 1993

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. SCHUMER, and Mrs.

SCHROEDER) 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 reform

the provisions relating to child labor.

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: REFERENCE.

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

5 ‘‘Young American Workers’ Bill of Rights’’.

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 provi10 sion of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
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1 SEC. 2. REPORTING AND RECORDKEEPING.

2 (a) CHILD-LABOR LAWS.—Section 12 (29 U.S.C.

3 212) is amended by adding at the end the following new

4 subsection:

5 ‘‘(e)(1) The Secretary and the United States Census

6 Bureau shall compile annually data from respective State

7 employment security agencies in all the States (A) on the

8 types of industries and occupations in which children

9 under the age of 18 are employed, and (B) on cases in

10 which it was determined that children were employed in

11 violation of this section.

12 ‘‘(2) If a minor in the course of employment suffers

13 death or an injury or illness resulting in lost work time

14 of at least 1 working day, not later than 5 days after the

15 death, injury, or illness, the employer of the minor shall

16 provide to the State agency a written description of the

17 death, injury, or illness.

18 ‘‘(3) The Secretary of Health and Human Services,

19 in conjunction with the Secretary of Labor, shall issue an

20 annual report on the status of child labor in the United

21 States and its attendant safety and health hazards.’’.

22 SEC. 3. CERTIFICATES OF EMPLOYMENT.

23 Section 12 (29 U.S.C. 212), as amended by section

24 2, is further amended by adding at the end the following

25 new subsection:

26 ‘‘(f)(1) As used in this subsection:
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1 ‘‘(A) The term ‘minor’ means an individual who

2 is under the age of 18 and who has not received a

3 high school diploma or its equivalent.

4 ‘‘(B) The term ‘parents’ means the biological

5 parents of a minor or other individual standing in

6 loco parentis to a minor.

7 ‘‘(2) No employer shall employ a minor unless the

8 minor possesses a valid certificate of employment issued

9 in accordance with this subsection.

10 ‘‘(3) The Governor of a State shall designate a State

11 agency to issue certificates of employment to minors in

12 the State. The agency shall make available, on request,

13 a form for the application described in paragraph (4) and

14 shall make available, as part of the certification process,

15 materials describing applicable Federal requirements gov16 erning the employment of minors and the minor’s rights

17 under such requirements.

18 ‘‘(4) To be eligible to receive a certificate of employ19 ment, a minor must submit to the appropriate State agen20 cy an application that contains—

21 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the minor;

22 ‘‘(B) proof of age of the minor;

23 ‘‘(C) if the minor is under the age of 18—
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1 ‘‘(i) a written statement by the parents of

2 the minor that the parents grant consent for

3 employment of the minor;

4 ‘‘(ii) written verification from the minor’s

5 school that the minor is meeting at least the

6 minimum school attendance requirements estab7 lished by the State and that such employment

8 will not interfere with the schooling of the

9 minor; and

10 ‘‘(D) the employer’s name, address, signature;

11 and

12 ‘‘(E) with respect to the employment—

13 ‘‘(i) a statement on the nature of the work

14 to be performed;

15 ‘‘(ii) the daily and weekly hours, and

16 ‘‘(iii) the times of day in which the work

17 is to be performed.

18 ‘‘(5) On receipt of an application under paragraph

19 (4), a State agency shall issue to the minor—

20 ‘‘(A) a certificate of employment, if the require21 ments of paragraph (4) are met; or

22 ‘‘(B) a statement of the denial of a certificate

23 of employment (including the reasons for the denial),

24 if the requirements of paragraph (4) are not met.
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1 ‘‘(6) A certificate of employment issued to a minor

2 under this subsection shall be valid for 1 year after the

3 date of issuance of the certificate or for the duration of

4 the permitted employment, whichever is shorter.

5 ‘‘(7) A certificate of employment issued to a minor

6 under this subsection shall indicate—

7 ‘‘(A) the name, address, and date of birth of

8 the minor;

9 ‘‘(B) a minor will not be employed more than

10 3 hours per day or more than 15 hours per week

11 and shall be prohibited from working before 7 a.m.

12 and after 7 p.m. when school is in session if such

13 minor is between 14 and 16 years of age and will

14 not be employed more than 4 hours per day or more

15 than 20 hours per week and shall be prohibited from

16 working before 6 a.m. and after 10 p.m. when school

17 is in session if such minor is between 16 and 18

18 years of age; and

19 ‘‘(C) the name, address, and telephone number

20 of the State agency that may be contacted for addi21 tional information concerning applicable Federal re22 quirements governing the employment of minors.

23 ‘‘(8) The State agency shall provide a copy of a cer24 tificate of employment issued to a minor under the age

25 of 18 to the parent of the minor who granted consent pur-
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1 suant to paragraph (4) and to the local school district

2 where the minor is enrolled.

3 ‘‘(9) If an employer employs a minor, not later than

4 14 days after the date of the commencement of employ5 ment of the minor, the employer shall provide to the State

6 agency written notice of the name and occupation of the

7 minor and the number of the certificate of employment

8 issued to the minor.

9 ‘‘(10) Each employer shall post a copy of the provi10 sions of this Act relating to child labor at each premise

11 of a worksite where one or more minors is employed.

12 ‘‘(11) A State agency shall report annually to the

13 Secretary concerning certificates of employment issued

14 under this subsection. The agency shall include such infor15 mation as the Secretary requires (including information

16 on the number of deaths and injuries of minors reported

17 pursuant to subsection (f)).’’.

18 SEC. 4. REVISIONS OF ORDERS AND REGULATIONS.

19 (a) ORDERS.—

20 (1) In the administration of the Fair Labor

21 Standards Act of 1938, the Secretary of Labor shall

22 make the following revisions in the Secretary’s child

23 labor orders published in subpart E of part 570 of

24 title 29, Code of Federal Regulations:
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1 (A) The exemption provided in Order No.

2 2 (29 C.F.R. 570.52) shall apply to minors who

3 are at least 17 years of age and to driving that

4 is secondary and incidental to the minor’s main

5 occupation. Such exemption would be limited to

6 20 percent of the minor’s work in any workday

7 and may not exceed 5 percent of the minor’s

8 work in any workweek.

9 (B) Order No. 10 (29 C.F.R. 570.61) shall

10 apply with respect to restaurants and fast food

11 establishments. Such order shall prohibit indi12 viduals under the age of 18 from cleaning any

13 machinery irrespective of who has disassembled

14 the machinery.

15 (2) In the administration of the Fair Labor

16 Standards Act of 1938, the Secretary of Labor shall

17 find and declare that poultry processing, seafood

18 processing, paper baling, power driven meat slicing,

19 and pesticide handling are occupations that are par20 ticularly hazardous for the employment of children

21 between the ages of 16 and 18 for purposes of sec22 tion 3(l) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

23 (b) CHILD LABOR REGULATIONS.—Under child labor

24 regulation No. 3 (subpart C of 29 C.F.R. 570 et seq.)—
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1 (1) individuals under 16 shall be prohibited

2 from making door-to-door sales for profit,

3 (2) individuals under 16 shall be prohibited

4 from using fryers, baking equipment, and cooking

5 equipment in food service establishments, and

6 (3) strike out in section 570.34(b)(5) ‘‘(except

7 at soda fountains, lunch counters, snack bars, or

8 cafeteria serving counters)’’.

9 SEC. 5. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CHILD LABOR VIOLA10 TIONS.

11 (a) WILLFUL VIOLATIONS THAT CAUSE INJURY OR

12 DEATH.—Section 16 (29 U.S.C. 216) is amended by add13 ing at the end the following new subsection:

14 ‘‘(f) Any person who willfully violates the provisions

15 of section 12, relating to child labor, or any regulation

16 issued under such section, shall, on conviction be pun17 ished—

18 ‘‘(1) in the case of a willful violation that

19 causes serious bodily injury to an employee described

20 in section 3(l) but does not cause death to the em21 ployee, by a fine in accordance with section 3571 of

22 title 18, United States Code, or by imprisonment for

23 not more than 5 years, or by both, except that if the

24 conviction is for a willful violation committed after

25 a first conviction of the person, the person shall be
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1 punished by a fine in accordance with section 3571

2 of such title 18 or by imprisonment for not more

3 than 10 years, or by both; or

4 ‘‘(2) in the case of a willful violation that

5 causes death to an employee described in section

6 3(l), by a fine in accordance with section 3571 of

7 such title 18 or by imprisonment for not more than

8 10 years, or by both, except that if the conviction is

9 for a willful violation committed after a first convic10 tion of the person, the person shall be punished by

11 a fine in accordance with section 3571 of such title

12 18 or by imprisonment for not more than 20 years,

13 or by both.’’.

14 (b) NO PRIOR OFFENSE PREREQUISITE FOR CHILD

15 LABOR VIOLATION.—The second sentence of section 16(a)

16 is amended by inserting before the period at the end the

17 following: ‘‘, except that this sentence shall not apply to

18 a violation of section 12’’.

19 SEC. 6. CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CHILD LABOR VIOLATIONS.

20 Section 16(e) (29 U.S.C. 216(e)) is amended—

21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and

22 (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively;

23 (2) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after the subsection des24 ignation;
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1 (3) by adding at the end the following new

2 paragraphs:

3 ‘‘(2) Any person who willfully violates the provisions

4 of section 12, relating to child labor, or any regulation

5 issued under such section, on more than one occasion,

6 shall, on such additional violation, be ineligible—

7 ‘‘(A) for any grant, contract, or loan provided

8 by an agency of the United States or by appro9 priated funds of the United States, for 5 years after

10 the date of such additional violation;

11 ‘‘(B) to pay the training wage authorized by

12 section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Amendments

13 of 1989 (29 U.S.C. 206 note); or

14 ‘‘(C) to employ a minor for a period of 5 years

15 from the date of such violation.’’.

16 SEC. 7. CIVIL ACTIONS FOR CHILD LABOR VIOLATIONS.

17 Section 16 (29 U.S.C. 216), as amended by section

18 5, is amended by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(g) Any employer who violates section 12 shall be

20 liable for such legal or equitable relief as may be appro21 priate. An action to recover such relief may be brought

22 against any employer in any Federal or State court of

23 competent jurisdiction by any employee subject to the pro24 tections of section 12 or by the employee’s survivors. The

25 court in such an action shall, in addition to any other
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1 judgment awarded to the plaintiff, allow a reasonable at2 torney’s fee to be paid by the defendant and costs of the

3 action. If the employee or the employee’s survivors obtain

4 a judgment under this subsection and also seek recovery

5 for the same violation through State worker’s compensa6 tion, this subsection does not preclude a State from choos7 ing to offset recovery obtained under this subsection

8 against recovery provided through State worker’s com9 pensation.’’.

10 SEC. 8. COORDINATION.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor shall es12 tablish and encourage closer working relationships among

13 Federal and State agencies having responsibility for en14 forcing labor, safety and health, and immigration laws.

15 (b) REFERRALS.—

16 (1) The Secretary of Labor shall establish a re17 ferral system under which employees engaged in the

18 enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act of

19 1938 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act

20 of 1970 shall—

21 (A) exchange information about suspected

22 violators of the Acts and monitor the results of

23 referrals to each other, and

24 (B) provide basic training to each other’s

25 staffs concerning the requirements of such Acts.
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1 (2) The Secretary of Labor shall require em2 ployees engaged in the enforcement of the Fair

3 Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the Occupational

4 Safety and Health Act of 1970 to establish a

5 referral system with—

6 (A) employees of the Immigration and

7 Naturalization Service engaged in the enforce8 ment of the Immigration and Nationality Act,

9 and

10 (B) employees of Departments of Labor of

11 the States engaged in the enforcement of State

12 minimum wage and occupational safety and

13 health laws.

14 The Immigration and Naturalization Service and the

15 State Departments of Labor shall each be encour16 aged by the Secretary of Labor to establish informa17 tion exchanges and, to the extent practicable, pro18 vided training to each other’s staffs concerning the

19 requirements of the Acts enforced by the respective

20 agencies.

21 (c) ADVICE FROM PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTORS.—

22 The Secretary shall seek information and advice from rep23 resentative elements of the private sector and the non24 Federal governmental sector with respect to the provisions

25 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and correspond-
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1 ing regulations as they pertain to the employment of

2 minors.

3 (d) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The Secretary shall es4 tablish an Advisory Committee for Child Labor to provide

5 overall policy advice on matters referred to in subsection

6 (c). The Committee shall be composed of not less than

7 21 individuals, and shall include representatives of govern8 ment, labor, industry, education, agriculture, health pro9 fessions, small business, youth, service industries, retail10 ers, consumer interests, human rights, child welfare, and

11 the general public. The Committee shall meet quarterly

12 at the call of the Secretary or upon the call of a majority

13 of the Committee, a quorum being present. The Chair14 person of the Committee shall be elected by the Committee

15 from among its members. Members of the Committee shall

16 be appointed by the President for a period of 4 years and

17 may be reappointed for one or more additional periods.

18 The Secretary shall make available to the Committee such

19 staff, information, personnel, and administrative services

20 and assistance as it may reasonably require to carry out

21 its activities.

22 SEC. 9. PUBLICATION OF VIOLATORS.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor shall pub24 lish and disseminate the names and addresses of each per25 son who has willfully violated the provisions of section 12
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1 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 relating to child

2 labor or any regulation under such section and the types

3 of violations committed by such person and shall distribute

4 the publication regionally.

5 (b) NOTICE TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS.—The Secretary

6 shall post and otherwise make available to affected school

7 districts the name of each employer who violates the provi8 sions of section 12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of

9 1938, relating to child labor, or any regulation issued

10 under such section together with a description of the loca11 tion and nature of the violation.

12 SEC. 10. COVERAGE.

13 The provisions of sections 12 and 16(e) of the Fair

14 Labor Standards Act of 1938 shall apply to employers re15 gardless of the annual dollar volume of sales whereby cer16 tain enterprises are exempted from coverage under such

17 Act.

18 SEC. 11. PROTECTION OF MINORS WHO ARE MIGRANT OR

19 SEASONAL AGRICULTURAL WORKERS.

20 (a) DEFINITION OF OPPRESSIVE CHILD LABOR.—

21 The first sentence of section 3(l) (29 U.S.C. 203(l)) is

22 amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ before ‘‘(2)’’; and

24 (2) by inserting before the semicolon the follow25 ing: ‘‘, or (3) any employee under the age of 14
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1 years is employed by an employer as a migrant agri2 cultural worker (as defined in section 3(8) of the Mi3 grant and Seasonal Agricultural Protection Act (29

4 U.S.C. 1802(8)) or seasonal agricultural worker (as

5 defined in section 3(10) of such Act)’’.

6 (b) EXEMPTIONS.—Section 13 (29 U.S.C. 213) is

7 amended—

8 (1) in subsection (a)(6), by inserting before the

9 semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, except that

10 this paragraph shall not apply to an employee de11 scribed in section 3(l)(3)’’; and

12 (2) in subsection (c)—

13 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Except

14 as provided in paragraph (2) or (4)’’ and in15 serting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph (2),

16 (4), or (5)’’; and

17 (B) by adding at the end the following new

18 paragraph:

19 ‘‘(5) The provisions of section 12 relating to child

20 labor shall apply to an employee described in section

21 3(l)(3).’’.

22 SEC. 12. REGULATIONS.

23 The Secretary of Labor shall issue such regulations

24 as are necessary to carry out this Act and the amendments

25 made by this Act.
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1 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION.

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec3 retary of Labor such sums as may be necessary for the

4 additional costs resulting from the amendments made by

5 sections 2 and 5.

Æ

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