Child Labor Fines Skyrocket to $700K Max: New Act Cracks Down on Unsafe Work for Minors

The “Protecting Children Act” is a massive overhaul of how the federal government handles child labor and workplace safety for young workers. If you’re a parent, a young person working a summer job, or an employer, this bill changes the math on risk and responsibility—and it’s effective 60 days after it becomes law.

The Cost of Cutting Corners: Penalties Go Nuclear

Let’s cut right to the chase: this bill uses financial pain to enforce the rules. It dramatically hikes the civil and criminal penalties for violating child labor laws (under the Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA) and workplace safety rules (under OSHA). For a standard child labor violation, the maximum fine jumps from $11,000 to $150,000. For serious or repeated violations, the maximum fine is now $700,000, up from $50,000 previously (Sec. 101).

If the violation involves an employee under 18, the penalties are doubled. If a safety violation leads to a worker’s death, the fine is doubled. If that deceased worker was under 18, the fine is trebled. For corporations, criminal fines for knowing violations that lead to a child’s death can now hit $10 million per violation, plus potential life imprisonment for individuals involved (Sec. 102). When calculating these fines, the government must now explicitly consider the “economic benefit of noncompliance”—meaning how much money the company saved by breaking the law. This is a huge shift, making the penalty not just a slap on the wrist, but a complete financial deterrent.

New Funding Streams and Private Justice

This bill doesn't just raise fines; it creates a dedicated funding loop. All the civil penalties collected from child labor and related OSHA violations will now flow into a new “Child Labor and Safety and Health Fund” (Sec. 202). This money is then immediately available to the Department of Labor for enforcement, investigations, training, and research. Essentially, the bad actors will fund the cleanup.

In a major win for individuals, the bill expands the right of private enforcement. If an employer violates child labor rules and a child is injured, that child can now sue the employer for both compensatory damages (to cover losses) and punitive damages (to punish the employer). This gives young victims a direct path to justice that didn't exist before (Sec. 104).

Modernizing Protections and Getting the Facts Straight

For years, the rules defining “hazardous occupations” for minors have been slow to update. This bill forces the Secretary of Labor to regularly review and update these standards, putting the safety and health of children first (Sec. 301). This means the rules must assume protective measures are necessary if there’s any chance a hazard could cause serious injury or long-term health problems for a child. They must also consider advice from a new National Advisory Committee on Child Labor created by the Act (Sec. 201).

Finally, the bill mandates a massive increase in data collection and transparency. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must create a model to track work-related injuries and illnesses for all workers under 18, including estimating the economic burden of these injuries—what costs are shifted to public programs like Medicare and Medicaid (Sec. 401). The Department of Labor must also publish annual reports detailing their enforcement capacity, including the ratio of inspectors to businesses, and estimate how many years it would take the current staff to visit every workplace once (Sec. 403). This is crucial for busy citizens: it provides concrete metrics to hold enforcement agencies accountable.