Children's Act for Responsible Employment of 2015 or the CARE Act of 2015
Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to define "oppressive child labor," for purposes of the Act's child labor prohibitions, as the employment of any employee who is:
Revises the Act's exemptions to make the restrictions on oppressive child labor inapplicable to the following:
Eliminates any waiver of such prohibitions for hand-harvesting of certain crops.
Increases civil and establishes criminal penalties for child labor violations.
Directs the Department to revise federal child labor regulations to prohibit the employment of children under age 18 in duties involving the handling of pesticides.
[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2764 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2764
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to strengthen the
provisions relating to child labor.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 12, 2015
Ms. Roybal-Allard 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Children's Act for Responsible
Employment of 2015'' or the ``CARE Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. 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 employment
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 particularly 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 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. 3. REVISED AGE REQUIREMENT FOR CHILD AGRICULTURAL 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 inserting 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 by his or her parent, or by a person
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 agricultural
employment, manufacturing, mining, or any other employment the
Secretary finds to be particularly hazardous for the employment
of a child 16 or 17 years of age or detrimental to their health
or well being.''.
(b) Repeal of Waiver Provision.--Section 13(c) of such Act (29
U.S.C. 213(c)) is further amended by striking paragraph (4) and
redesignating paragraphs (5) through (7) as paragraphs (4) through (6),
respectively.
SEC. 4. INCREASED CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CHILD LABOR VIOLATIONS.
Paragraph (1) of section 16(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of
1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(e)(1)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``person'' each place it appears and
inserting ``employer'';
(2) in subparagraph (A)--
(A) by striking ``not to exceed'' and inserting
``of''; and
(B) by amending clauses (i) and (ii) to read as
follows:
``(i) not less than $500 and not more than $15,000 for each
employee who was the subject of such a violation; or
``(ii) not less than $15,000 and not more than $50,000 with
regard to each such violation that causes the serious injury,
serious illness, or death of any employee under the age of 18
years, which penalty may be doubled where the violation is a
repeated or willful violation.''; and
(3) in subparagraph (B) by striking ``the term `serious
injury' means'' and inserting ``the terms `serious injury' and
`serious illness' mean''.
SEC. 5. SPECIAL CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN AGGRAVATED CHILD LABOR
VIOLATIONS.
Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216)
is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``Any person'' and
inserting ``Except as provided in subsection (f), any person'';
and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(f) Any person who repeatedly or willfully violates any of the
provisions of section 12, and such violations result in or cause the
death or serious injury or serious illness of an employee under 18
years of age at the time of such violation, shall be subject to
imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine under title 18, United
States Code, or both.''.
SEC. 6. PESTICIDE-RELATED WORKER PROTECTION STANDARD.
Congress finds and declares that the employment of children under
the age of 18 in the occupation of a pesticide handler as defined in
the worker protection standard for workers exposed to pesticides in
part 170 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, is particularly
hazardous to such children and detrimental to their health and well-
being. The Secretary of Labor shall revise part 570 of title 29, Code
of Federal Regulations, to prohibit the employment of a child under the
age of 18 to perform any of the tasks or duties described in the
definition of the term ``handler'' in section 170.3 of title 40, Code
of Federal Regulations.
SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF FAIR LABOR STANDARDS AMENDMENTS.
(a) Rulemaking.--The Secretary of Labor may prescribe rules as
necessary to implement the amendments made by sections 2 through 5 and
the revision required by section 6. Any such rules issued shall take
effect not later than 30 days after the date on which the such rules
are published in the Federal Register.
(b) Violations.--The amendments made by sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 and
the revision required by section 7 shall apply to violations of the
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) that occur
after the date on which the rules issued under subsection (a) take
effect.
(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in the amendments made by
section 3, 4, or 5 or in the revision required by section 7 shall be
construed to preempt any State law that provides protections or
remedies for employees that are greater than the protections or
remedies provided under such amendments or such revision.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E979-980)
Referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
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