I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4046 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to strengthen the provisions 
relating to child labor, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 12, 2023 
Mr. RUIZ (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
POCAN, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 
PORTER, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. 
LEE of California, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Ms. 
VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. SCHIFF, 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. CARSON, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. MOORE of Wis-
consin, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. 
VARGAS, Ms. JAYAPAL, and Ms. CHU) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to 
strengthen the provisions relating to child labor, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Act for Re-
sponsible Employment and Farm Safety of 2023’’ or the 
‘‘CARE Act of 2023’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Across the United States, there are hun-
dreds of thousands of children younger than 18 
years old who are working in the agricultural indus-
try. It is difficult to know exactly how many children 
are performing the grueling work that is required to 
plant, pick, process, and pack the food that people 
eat every day. 
(2) For farmworkers, many of whom are immi-
grants, all of whom are poor and some of whom are 
undocumented, it is challenging to capture accurate 
data that reflects both the percentage of children 
working in one of the Nation’s most dangerous occu-
pations, as well as the scope of the work that they 
are engaged in. One thing that is notable is that un-
like virtually every other job in the labor market, 
Congress has made exceptions to allow children to 
lawfully work in this industry. 
(3) Historically, children have been permitted to 
work in agriculture at younger ages, for longer 
hours and under more hazardous conditions than 
other working children. Like most other agricultural 
workers, they remain excluded from basic protec-
tions provided to workers in other industries under 
Federal employment laws. Even where protections 
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exist under Federal law, they are seldom ever en-
forced. 
(4) Allowing children to engage in agricultural 
work from a young age can result in long-term nega-
tive consequences, especially when the child worker 
is not employed on a family farm where family mem-
bers take precautions for their children and family 
members. Working in agriculture as a child can re-
sult in an early end to childhood, and long hours 
worked at unfair and unlawful wages can pose risks 
to their overall health and lives. 
(5) Child farmworkers suffer work-related fa-
talities at over four times the rate of other young 
workers, often because exceptions are made that 
allow farmworker children to operate heavy, dan-
gerous equipment and to be exposed to other haz-
ards. Yet, great efforts have been taken to strictly 
limit the possibility of children in other industries 
from engaging in dangerous work activities or jobs. 
The demands imposed by doing agricultural work, 
coupled with the low pay and poor working condi-
tions, result in shocking drop-out rates from school. 
Aside from these risks, farmworker girls are excep-
tionally vulnerable to sexual abuse and harassment 
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by supervisors, company owners, crew leaders, co- 
workers and others. 
(6) While the focus of this Act is on improving 
the health and safety for all children engaged in ag-
ricultural labor, primarily through strengthened gen-
eral wage and hour protections, the high rates of 
workplace sexual violence against farmworker women 
and girls should not be ignored, particularly given 
that they are susceptible to this violence due to the 
overall lack of workplace protections available to 
them. 
SEC. 3. AMENDED DEFINITIONS. 
Section 3(l) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 
(29 U.S.C. 203(l)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(l) ‘Oppressive child labor’ means a condition of em-
ployment under which— 
‘‘(1) any employee who is 16 or 17 years of age 
is employed by an employer in any occupation found 
by the Secretary and by order declared to be par-
ticularly hazardous for the employment of children 
between such ages or detrimental to their health or 
well-being; 
‘‘(2) any employee who is 14 or 15 years of age 
is employed by an employer, unless the Secretary 
has determined that the employment is confined to 
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periods which will not interfere with the schooling of 
the employee, and that the conditions of employment 
will not interfere with the health and well-being of 
the employee; or 
‘‘(3) any employee who is under 14 years of age 
is employed by an employer.’’. 
SEC. 4. REVISED AGE REQUIREMENT FOR CHILD AGRICUL-
TURAL EMPLOYMENT; REPEAL OF WAIVER 
PROVISION FOR HAND HARVEST LABORERS. 
(a) REVISED AGE REQUIREMENT.—Section 13(c) of 
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(c)) 
is amended by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and insert-
ing the following: 
‘‘(1) The provisions of section 12 relating to 
child labor shall not apply to any employee under 18 
years of age who is employed in agriculture outside 
of school hours for the school district where such 
employee is living by his or her parent, or by a per-
son standing in the place of the parent, on a farm 
owned by the parent or person. 
‘‘(2) The provisions of section 12 relating to 
child labor shall not apply to any employee under 16 
years of age who is employed by his or her parent, 
or by a person standing in the place of the parent, 
in employment other than manufacturing, mining, or 
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