Sponsors (11)
The bill significantly strengthens protections, remedies, and supply-chain accountability to reduce child labor and improve workplace safety, but does so by imposing substantial compliance costs, extended legal exposure, and new administrative and enforcement burdens on businesses and government.
Children (under 16, and 16–17-year-olds) are less likely to be exposed to hazardous or exploitative work because the bill broadens the definition of oppressive child labor and bars under-16s (and limits 16–17 year-olds) from employment on covered federal contracts.
Workers who must stop work due to enforcement actions are entitled to pay during stop-work orders, protecting lost wages for affected employees and their families during investigations or remediation.
Victims of child-labor violations gain stronger remedies (substantial compensatory and punitive statutory minimums) improving relief for harmed children and increasing deterrence against abusive employers.
Small businesses, contractors, and purchasers face much higher compliance costs and exposure to very large fines and statutory damages, which could raise operating costs and consumer prices.
Expanded successor-in-interest, joint-and-several liability and extended lookback windows expose buyers, acquirers, and successors to substantial legacy legal and financial risk, complicating mergers, acquisitions, and sales.
Contractors face new contract-specific penalties—cancelled contracts, reprocurement charges, liquidated damages, debarment risk, and expanded administrative enforcement—that increase financial and operational risk for firms working with the federal government.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Tightens child-labor rules, raises penalties, creates supply-chain and successor liability, expands enforcement tools, and requires annual workplace-injury and enforcement reports.
Official title: Strengthen protections against child labor violations, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 17, 2026 by Patty Murray · Last progress June 17, 2026
Strengthens federal child-labor rules by expanding the definition of "oppressive child labor," increasing penalties, extending enforcement tools, and creating new supply-chain and successor liability for contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. It requires the Department of Labor to issue regulations quickly, authorizes training and victim-support programs, and expands reporting and data collection on work-related injuries and enforcement trends. Also amends federal procurement law to bar employing children under 16 (and certain uses of 16–17-year-olds) at any tier of covered contracts, creates defenses and successor rules for contractors, and requires an annual Department of Labor report on workplace injuries, fatalities, and enforcement activity.