I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3383 

To limit the number of hours that children may be employed as actors, 

performers, and models, to require blocked trust accounts for the financial protection of such children, to clarify the liability of employers, 

contractors, and other individuals for sexual harassment of such child 

performers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2015 

Ms. MENG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To limit the number of hours that children may be employed 

as actors, performers, and models, to require blocked 

trust accounts for the financial protection of such children, to clarify the liability of employers, contractors, 

and other individuals for sexual harassment of such child 

performers, 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 Performers Pro5 tection Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS FOR CHILD PERFORMERS. 

2 (a) APPLICATION OF CHILD LABOR PROVISIONS.— 

3 Section 13(c)(3) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

4 (29 U.S.C. 213(c)(3)) is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(3)(A) The provisions of section 12 relating to 

6 child labor shall not apply to any child performer if 

7 employment or contracting of the child performer is 

8 in accordance with the following: 

9 ‘‘(i)(I) An infant who has not reached six 

10 months of age may be permitted to remain at 

11 the place of employment or contracting for no 

12 more than 2 hours. 

13 ‘‘(II) A child performer age six months to 

14 twenty-four months may be permitted to remain 

15 at the place of employment or contracting for 

16 no more than 4 hours a day. 

17 ‘‘(III) A child performer age 2 years to 6 

18 years may be permitted to remain at the place 

19 of employment or contracting for no more than 

20 6 hours a day. 

21 ‘‘(IV) A child performer age 6 years to 9 

22 years may be permitted to remain at the place 

23 of employment or contracting for no more than 

24 8 hours per day. 

25 ‘‘(V) A child performer age 9 years to 16 

26 years may be permitted to remain at the place 


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1 of employment or contracting for no more than 

2 9 hours per day. 

3 ‘‘(ii) An employer or contractor may not 

4 employ any child performer unless a trust ac5 count has been established on behalf of the 

6 child performer and the employer has obtained 

7 the account number of such trust account or 

8 other proof of the existence of the trust ac9 count. A trust account described in this clause 

10 is one in which— 

11 ‘‘(I) not less than 15 percent of the 

12 earnings of the child performer shall be de13 posited; 

14 ‘‘(II) the child performer has no ac15 cess to the funds in the account until the 

16 child performer reaches the age of 18; and 

17 ‘‘(III) the parents or legal guardians 

18 of the child performer shall have no access 

19 to the trust account except in cir20 cumstances of financial hardship stipulated 

21 in the agreement with the financial institu22 tion providing the trust account, which 

23 stipulations shall be in accordance with 

24 regulations issued by the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) An employer or contractor may not 

2 provide compensation to any child performer in 

3 any other form other than cash wages, exclusive 

4 of board, lodging, or facilities. 

5 ‘‘(B) Employment or contracting of a child per6 former that is not in accordance with limitations and 

7 requirements of clauses (i) through (iii) of subpara8 graph (A) shall be treated as oppressive child labor 

9 for purposes of section 12. 

10 ‘‘(C) The work hour restrictions set forth in 

11 clause (i) of subparagraph (A) shall not apply to 

12 child performers employed in a live theatrical pro13 duction, including theater, opera, and dance.’’. 

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 3 of the 

15 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203) is 

16 amended— 

17 (1) in subsection (l), by adding at the end the 

18 following: ‘‘For purposes of this subsection only, the 

19 term ‘employer’ includes any person who contracts 

20 with a child performer who is an independent con21 tractor, the term ‘employee’ includes a child per22 former who is an independent contractor, and the 

23 term ‘employment’ includes an independent contract 

24 between any person and a child performer.’’; and 

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


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1 ‘‘(z) CHILD PERFORMER.—The term ‘child per2 former’ means a child under the age of 18 employed or 

3 contracted as an actor or performer in a motion picture 

4 or live theatrical production, or in a radio or television 

5 production, or as a model for a fashion show, showroom, 

6 or similar production or for commercial media.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. LIABILITY FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF CHILD 

8 PERFORMERS. 

9 (a) UNLAWFUL HARASSMENT ON THE BASIS OF SEX

10 AGAINST A CHILD PERFORMER.—It shall be unlawful sex 

11 discrimination for any individual in a supervisory role with 

12 respect to a child performer to engage in any conduct con13 stituting harassment on the basis of sex against the child 

14 performer. 

15 (b) LIABILITY.—Any individual in a supervisory role 

16 with respect to a child performer shall be liable for unlaw17 ful sex discrimination for harassment on the basis of sex 

18 against a child performer in violation of subsection (a) 

19 whether or not such individual is employed by or con20 tracted by a covered employer or contractor. 

21 (c) RIGHT OF ACTION.—Any child performer ag22 grieved by a violation of subsection (a), or a parent or 

23 guardian of such child performer may bring a civil action 

24 in any Federal court of competent jurisdiction to recover 

25 from an individual who violates such subsection with reVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 Aug 06, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3383.IH H3383

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1 spect to such child performer, equitable relief and compen2 satory and punitive damages, costs, and attorneys fees. 

3 (d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act— 

4 (1) the term ‘‘child performer’’ has the meaning 

5 given such term in section 3(z) of the Fair Labor 

6 Standards Act of 1938 (as added by section 2); 

7 (2) the term ‘‘covered employer or contractor’’ 

8 means an employer or other entity that employs or 

9 contracts with a child performer; 

10 (3) the term ‘‘harassment on the basis of sex’’ 

11 with respect to a child performer means any verbal 

12 or physical conduct of a sexual nature where— 

13 (A) submission to such conduct is made 

14 implicitly a term or condition of a child per15 former’s employment or contract, or is used as 

16 the basis for decisions affecting the child per17 former’s employment or contract; or 

18 (B) such conduct has the purpose or effect 

19 of interfering with a child performer’s perform20 ance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or of21 fensive working environment; and 

22 (4) the term ‘‘individual in a supervisory role 

23 with respect to a child performer’’ means an em24 ployee or independent contractor of an employer or 

25 other entity that employs or contracts with a child 


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1 performer who has direct supervision over the child 

2 performer or is responsible for working with the 

3 child performer in any capacity in furtherance of the 

4 performance or artistic expression of the child per5 former, including an agent, manager, casting direc6 tor, child wrangler, director, photographer or cine7 matographer, makeup artist, and wardrobe assist8 ant. 

9 SEC. 4. REVIEW OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES BY EM10 PLOYERS. 

11 In any case where a violation of section 3(a) is al12 leged, the employer of the individual or individuals alleged 

13 to have committed the violation shall conduct an internal 

14 review of its policies and procedures for protecting child 

15 performers and ensuring compliance with section 13(c)(3) 

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

17 213(c)(3)), as amended by section 2. 

18 SEC. 5. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW AND COLLECTIVE 

19 BARGAINING AGREEMENTS. 

20 (a) STATE LAW.—This Act and the amendments 

21 made by this Act shall not be construed to preempt any 

22 law or regulation of a State or a political subdivision of 

23 a State containing requirements that are greater than the 

24 requirements of this Act and the amendments made by 

25 this Act. 


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1 (b) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.—This 

2 Act and the amendments made by this Act shall not be 

3 construed to preempt any collective bargaining agreement 

4 or any contract that establishes more stringent require5 ments. 

Æ 


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