118 S4038 IS: Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety of 2024 U.S. Senate 2024-03-21 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

II118th CONGRESS2d SessionS. 4038IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESMarch 21, 2024Mr. Luján introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and PensionsA BILLTo amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to strengthen the provisions relating to child labor, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety of 2024 or the CARE Act of 2024.

2.

Table of contents

The table of contents for this Act is as follows:Sec. 1. Short title.Sec. 2. Table of contents.Sec. 3. Findings.TITLE I—Amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938Sec. 101. Application of child labor laws to independent contractors.Sec. 102. Revised age requirement for child agricultural employment and exemptions for hazardous and non-hazardous work.Sec. 103. Repeal of waiver provision for hand harvest laborers.Sec. 104. Pesticide-related worker protection standard.TITLE II—Penalties and enforcementSec. 201. Increased civil penalties for child labor violations.Sec. 202. Special criminal penalties for certain aggravated child labor violations.TITLE III—Reports and memorandum of understandingSec. 301. Report to Congress on child labor and work-related injuries to children and related matters.Sec. 302. Employer reporting requirements.Sec. 303. Memorandum of understanding.TITLE IV—Effective datesSec. 401. Effective date for application of child labor laws to independent contractors.Sec. 402. Application of other fair labor standards amendments.Sec. 403. Application of Occupational Safety and Health Act amendments.

3.

Findings

Congress finds the following:(1)Across the United States, there are hundreds of thousands of children who are working in the agricultural industry and performing the grueling work that is required to plant, pick, process, and pack the food that people eat every day.(2)Congress included exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) child labor provisions that create separate minimum age thresholds and hazardous occupations rules for children employed in agriculture. Such Act does not limit the number of hours per day or week that children can work in agriculture, nor does it place limits on when that work occurs outside of school hours (i.e., children may work in agriculture for any number of hours per day or week, and at any time during the day or night).(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, children remain excluded from basic protections provided to workers in other industries under Federal employment laws. Even where protections exist under Federal law, Federal agencies lack sufficient resources to conduct investigations and hold employers accountable for violations.(4)Allowing children to engage in agricultural work from a young age can result in long-term negative consequences, especially when the child worker is not employed on a family farm where family members take precautions for their children and family members. Working in agriculture as a child can result in an early end to childhood, and long hours worked at unfair and unlawful wages can pose risks to their overall health, education, and lives.(5)Child farmworkers suffer work-related fatalities at more than 4 times the rate of other young workers and, according to a 2018 report by the Government Accountability Office, more than half of all work-related child fatalities are in the agriculture industry, often because exceptions are made that allow farmworker children to operate heavy, dangerous equipment and to be exposed to other hazards. 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 conditions, result in shocking drop-out rates from school for child farmworkers. Aside from these risks, farmworker children are exceptionally vulnerable to sexual abuse and harassment by supervisors, company owners, crew leaders, co-workers, and others.