Sponsors (9)
The bill materially strengthens protections, enforcement, data, and training to reduce hazardous child labor and improve youth workplace safety, but it does so at the cost of higher penalties and compliance/litigation burdens, potential chilling of youth employment, ongoing federal spending, and some privacy and procedural trade-offs.
Children and their families: the bill strengthens protections against hazardous child labor by increasing penalties, establishing precautionary standards, and requiring periodic reviews to remove or restrict dangerous youth work.
Injured workers under 18: the bill creates a private right of action allowing compensatory and punitive damages, giving minors stronger legal avenues to recover for workplace harm.
Enforcement capacity: the bill establishes a dedicated enforcement fund (fed by civil penalties) and authorizes enhanced penalties for serious/repeat violations, providing sustained resources for investigations and enforcement without relying on annual appropriations.
Small businesses and employers: the bill raises civil and criminal penalties, expands liability (including potential criminal exposure), and broadens damages, which could dramatically increase legal/compliance costs and deter hiring of younger workers.
Taxpayers and government budgets: creating a standing enforcement fund financed by civil penalties and new research/reporting programs redirects penalty revenue away from general revenues and increases ongoing federal spending without specified offsets.
Administrative and legal burden: expanded enforcement powers, more litigation (private suits and criminal cases), mandated periodic reviews, and new reporting/transparency requirements will increase DOL workload, court caseloads, and administrative costs for governments and regulated entities.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Introduced June 12, 2025 by Robert C. Scott · Last progress June 12, 2025
The legislation sharply strengthens protections for children working or at risk of oppressive child labor by raising civil and criminal penalties, creating a new advisory committee and a dedicated penalty-funded program for enforcement, research, training, and education, and tightening rulemaking and transparency around hazardous-occupation orders. It also requires expanded data collection, annual public reports on enforcement and youth workplace injuries, and new procedures that prioritize child vulnerability and scientific evidence when updating hazardous-work rules. The law becomes effective 60 days after enactment, expands enforcement tools for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services (including OSHA and NIOSH roles), adds a private right of action for harmed children, and directs civil penalties collected to a new Child Labor and Safety and Health Fund to support investigations, training, and research.