[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 341 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 341

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the penalties 
      for employers who violate such Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 5, 1993

 Mr. Schumer 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 increase the penalties 
      for employers who violate such Act, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Sweatshops 
Prevention Act of 1993''.
    (b) Reference.--Whenever in this Act (other than section 7) an 
amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal 
of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to 
be made to a section or other provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act 
of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).

SEC. 2. VIOLATIONS.

    (a) Section 16(b).--Section 16(b) (29 U.S.C. 216(b)) is amended--
            (1) by amending the first sentence to read as follows:
    ``(b)(1) Any employer who violates section 6 or 7 of this Act shall 
be liable--
            ``(A) in the case of a first violation, to each employee 
        affected (i) in the amount of their unpaid minimum wages or 
        unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may be, (ii) for 
        liquidated damages in an amount equal to the amount described 
        in clause (i), and (iii) for interest on the amount described 
        in clause (i) computed, at the time of payment, at the rate of 
        interest determined by the Secretary of the Treasury for 
        interest payments under section 12 of the Contracts Dispute Act 
        of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 611), and
            ``(B) for a second or subsequent violation, to each 
        employee affected in the amount of three times their unpaid 
        minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may 
        be.'',
            (2) in the third sentence by striking out ``An action to 
        recover the liability prescribed in either of the preceding 
        sentences'' and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
    ``(2) An action to recover the liability prescribed in paragraph 
(1)'', and
            (3) in the sixth sentence by striking out ``unpaid minimum 
        wages, or the amount of unpaid overtime compensation, as the 
        case may be, owing to such employee under section 6 or section 
        7 of this Act by an employer liable therefor under the 
        provisions of this subsection'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
        ``the liability prescribed in paragraph (1)''.
    (b) Section 16(c).--Section 16(c) (29 U.S.C. 216(c)) is amended--
            (1) in the first sentence by striking out ``under 
        subsection (b) of this section to such unpaid minimum wages or 
        unpaid overtime compensation and an additional equal amount as 
        liquidated damages'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``to the 
        amount prescribed by subsection (b)(1)'',
            (2) in the second sentence by striking out ``the amount of 
        the unpaid minimum wages or overtime compensation and equal 
        amount as liquidated damages'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
        ``the amount prescribed by subsection (b)(1).'',
            (3) in the third sentence, (A) by striking out ``(b)'' and 
        inserting in lieu thereof ``(b)(2)'', (B) by striking out ``the 
        first sentence of such subsection'' and inserting in lieu 
        thereof ``subsection (b)(1)'', and (C) by striking out ``unpaid 
        minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation under sections 6 
        and 7 or liquidated or other damages provided by this 
        subsection'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``the amounts''.

SEC. 3. SEIZURES.

    Section 16 (29 U.S.C. 216) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(f)(1)(A)(i) If an employer engaged in garment manufacturing 
violates section 6, 7, or 12 more than 2 times in a 3-year period, the 
Secretary may seize garments from the premises of the employer in a 
value not to exceed the liability of the employer under subsection (b) 
or (e) for the last such violation.
    ``(ii) If garments are produced by homeworkers in violation of 
section 11(d), the Secretary may seize all the garments so produced, 
except that if the employer of the homeworker obtained a certificate to 
employ homeworkers pursuant to section 11(d) and the employer violated 
the terms of the certificate, the Secretary may seize garments so 
produced in a value not to exceed the liability of the employer under 
this Act.
    ``(B) If the Secretary seizes garments under subparagraph (A), the 
Secretary shall notify the owner of such garments of the seizure and 
shall provide for the return of the garments to the owner if the 
liability of such employer for such violation is met.
    ``(2) The owner of garments seized under paragraph (1) may have 
review of the authority of the Secretary to make the seizure. Such 
review shall be made in an administrative proceeding after opportunity 
for a hearing in accordance with section 554 of title 5, United States 
Code.
    ``(3) The Secretary shall issue regulations governing the 
destruction or disposal of garments seized under paragraph (1). Such 
garments may not be disposed of by sale.
    ``(4) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term `garment 
manufacturing' means the sewing, knitting, cutting, making, processing, 
repairing, finishing, assembling, or otherwise preparing any garment or 
any article of wearing apparel or accessories designed or intended to 
be worn by an individual, including clothing, hats, gloves, handbags, 
hosiery, ties, scarfs, and belts to be sold or resold by any person 
contracting to have such operations performed.''.

SEC. 4. CIVIL PENALTIES.

    (a) In General.--The first sentence of section 16(e) (29 U.S.C. 
216(e) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(e)(1) Any person--
            ``(A) who violates section 12 or any regulation issued 
        under that section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not 
        to exceed $10,000 for each such violation,
            ``(B) who violates section 6 or 7 two or more times shall 
        be subject to a civil penalty of not to exceed $10,000 for each 
        such violation, or
            ``(C) who violates section 15(a)(5)--
                    ``(i) shall be subject to a civil penalty of not to 
                exceed $1,000 for the first violation, and
                    ``(ii) shall be subject to a civil penalty of not 
                to exceed $10,000 for each violation after the first 
                violation.''.
    (b) Technical.--The second sentence of section 16(e) (29 U.S.C. 
216(e)) is amended--
            (1) by striking out ``In determining the amount of such 
        penalty'' and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
    ``(2) In determining the amount of the penalty authorized by 
paragraph (1)'', and
            (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as 
        subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively.

SEC. 5. CRIMINAL PENALTIES.

    Section 16(a) (29 U.S.C. 216(a)) is amended by striking out ``a 
fine of not more than $10,000 or to imprisonment for not more than six 
months'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``a fine in accordance with 
title 18, United States Code, or to imprisonment for at least six 
months and not more than one year''.

SEC. 6. SETTLEMENTS.

    The first sentence of section 16(c) (29 U.S.C. 216(c) is amended by 
striking out ``unpaid minimum wages or the unpaid overtime compensation 
owing to any employee or employees under section 6 or 7 of this Act'' 
and inserting in lieu thereof ``amount prescribed by subsection (b)(1) 
to any employee or employees''.

SEC. 7. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

    Section 6(a) of the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 (29 U.S.C. 255(a)) 
is amended by striking out ``two years'' each place it occurs and 
inserting in lieu thereof ``three years'' and by striking out ``, 
except that'' and all that follows in that section and inserting in 
lieu thereof a semicolon.

SEC. 8. COORDINATION.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Labor shall establish and 
encourage closer working relationships among Federal and State agencies 
having responsibility for enforcing labor, safety and health, and 
immigration laws.
    (b) Referrals.--
            (1) The Secretary of Labor shall establish a referral 
        system under which employees engaged in the enforcement of the 
        Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the Occupational Safety 
        and Health Act of 1970 shall--
                    (A) exchange information about suspected violators 
                of the Acts and monitor the results of referrals to 
                each other, and
                    (B) provide basic training to each other's staffs 
                concerning the requirements of such Acts.
            (2) The Secretary of Labor shall require employees engaged 
        in the enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and 
        the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to establish a 
        referral system with--
                    (A) employees of the Immigration and Naturalization 
                Service engaged in the enforcement of the Immigration 
                and Nationality Act, and
                    (B) employees of Departments of Labor of the States 
                engaged in the enforcement of State minimum wage and 
                occupational safety and health laws.
        The Service and the State Departments of Labor shall each be 
        encouraged by the Secretary of Labor to establish information 
        exchanges and, to the extent practicable, provided training to 
        each other's staffs concerning the requirements of the Acts 
        enforced by the respective agencies.

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