II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1598 

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

for child labor violations. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 12, 2007 

Mr. COLEMAN (for himself, Mr. ENZI, and Mr. ISAKSON) 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, 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 02:26 Jun 13, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1598.IS S1598

hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
2 

•S 1598 IS

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 was the 

4 subject of such a violation; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) $50,000 with regard to each such violation 

6 that causes the death or serious injury of any em7 ployee under the age of 18 years, which penalty may 

8 be doubled where the violation is a repeated or will9 ful violation. 

10 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term ‘se11 rious injury’ means— 

12 ‘‘(i) permanent loss or substantial impairment 

13 of one of the senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, tac14 tile sensation); 

15 ‘‘(ii) permanent loss or substantial impairment 

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

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

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

19 ‘‘(iii) permanent paralysis or substantial im20 pairment that causes loss of movement or mobility 

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

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

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

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


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
3 

•S 1598 IS

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 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
4 

•S 1598 IS

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 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS