Holding Corporations Accountable for Child Labor: NCL Endorses New Bipartisan Bill
Media Contact: Lisa McDonald, Vice President of Communications, 202-207-2829
Washington, DC – Today, the National Consumers League’s (NCL) Child Labor Coalition (CLC) is proud to support Congresswoman Hillary Scholten’s reintroduction of her bipartisan Justice for Exploited Children Act alongside Congressman Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07). This legislation would increase both civil and criminal penalties for companies that violate child labor standards established in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under current law, penalties for child labor violations are as low as $10,000 in some cases – and the maximum prison sentence is 6 months, even if violations result in the death or serious injury of a child.
“The Child Labor Coalition and the National Consumers League both welcome—and endorse—Rep. Scholten’s and Rep. Mackenzie’s Justice for Exploited Children Act, with its significantly increased child labor fines,” said Reid Maki, director of child labor advocacy for the National Consumers League and coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition. “Just three years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division cited low fine levels as an obstacle to its efforts to root out hazardous child labor in meatpacking factories. It has been clear that current child labor fine levels are not sufficient to elicit the compliance of large corporations, with annual revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars or more. Fines must be significantly higher if we are to protect our children from dangerous workplaces.”
The Justice for Exploited Children Act would update these penalties, incentivizing companies to monitor the quality of their supply chains. By instituting a wider range of penalties and doubling certain fines upon repeated or willful violation, this bill allows for nuance in each instance of violation, acknowledging that many businesses are initially unaware of the presence of child laborers in their workforce and supply chains.
Endorsing organizations include the Campaign to End US Child Labor, Human Rights Watch, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, Economic Policy Institute, First Focus Campaign for Children, Global March Against Child Labor, Green America, National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, National Consumers League, and the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.
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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
