Sponsors (7)
The bill substantially tightens protections, reporting, and penalties to reduce hazardous child labor in agriculture—improving safety and transparency—but does so in ways that raise compliance costs for small farms, create privacy and enforcement challenges, and may produce transitional and legal uncertainty for employers and some families.
Children under 18 working in agriculture gain substantially stronger safety protections: a clear ban for under-14s, prohibition on pesticide-handler tasks, tighter limits on hazardous work for 14–17-year-olds, and increased enforcement focus that together reduce youth exposure to toxic chemicals and dangerous equipment.
Federal reporting and public transparency of agricultural youth injuries/illnesses (annual data and near-term incident reports) give the Department of Labor, Congress, and the public timely information to target inspections, prevention, and enforcement where children are most at risk.
Higher civil and criminal penalties and clearer definitions (including a presumption that on‑premises exposures are work-related) strengthen deterrence and employer accountability, making dangerous child-labor practices more likely to be corrected or punished.
Small farms and other employers face substantially higher compliance, reporting and penalty costs (new reporting, administrative burdens, civil fines, and potential criminal exposure) that could reduce farm incomes, raise consumer prices, and discourage hiring of youth.
Expanded parental‑employer exemptions risk enabling labor by very young children with less regulatory oversight, which could increase safety and schooling concerns for vulnerable youth on family farms.
Harsh criminal penalties and broader liability create legal uncertainty for employers over what constitutes 'willful' or 'repeated' conduct and may chill lawful hiring of minors or push employers to avoid youth workers altogether.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Tightens federal child-labor rules for agriculture, bans youth pesticide-handler tasks, requires employer reporting of serious youth injuries/illnesses/deaths, and raises penalties.
Official title: To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to strengthen the provisions relating to child labor, and for other purposes.
Introduced November 17, 2025 by Raul Ruiz · Last progress November 17, 2025
Makes federal changes to child labor law for agricultural work: tightens the statutory definition of "oppressive child labor," revises FLSA age-based exemptions for farm work, bans minors from pesticide-handler tasks, creates employer reporting requirements for serious youth work injuries/illnesses/deaths, raises civil and criminal penalties for violations, and requires the Labor Department to collect and publish annual data and issue implementing rules within months of enactment.