(September 23, 2008) Washington, DC – During a House Committee on Education and Labor subcommittee hearing today, Members of Congress heard from expert witnesses who testified to the need to enforce existing labor laws and strengthen protections for child laborers, particularly by passing The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE) Act, introduced by Congresswoman Roybal-Allard (CA-34). 

The CARE Act (HR 2674) would end the double standard existing in child labor laws that result in inadequate protections for children working in our nation’s agricultural fields.

“The fact is that children who work on a farm are allowed to work at a younger age, for longer hours and in more hazardous conditions than kids who work at a grocery store,” said Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey. “This is unacceptable. Representative Roybal-Allard’s CARE Act would correct this imbalance by raising protections for child farmworkers to the same level of children working in other industries. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation, which we will give serious attention to next year.”

Sally Greenberg, Co-Chair of the Child Labor’s Coalition and Executive Director of the National Consumers League, testified before the subcommittee that the passage of the CARE Act would end these disparate child labor protections and break the cycle of poverty among farmworker families.  “The CARE Act would close these shameful loopholes, leveling the playing field for hundreds of thousands of farmworker youth who are dropping out of high school in high numbers,” Sally Greenberg said.

According to the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, as many as 67 percent of migrant farmworker youth leave school in order to support their families in the fields.

Congresswoman Roybal-Allard thanked Chairwoman Woolsey for holding the hearing on this important issue.  “The U.S. Department of Labor has failed to take seriously its responsibility to enforce even the existing inadequate child labor laws, and I am grateful for Chairwoman Woolsey for bringing this issue the attention it deserves,” Congresswoman Roybal-Allard said.

“According to the National Consumers League, the number of child labor investigations conducted in 2006 — 1,344 — was the lowest in the last 10 years for which the League has data,” continued Congresswoman Roybal-Allard. “And despite the fact that roughly 400,000 children work in our fields and orchards, in 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor undertook just 28 child labor investigations in agriculture. This lack of enforcement is unacceptable. Given such looseness in labor law enforcement, it is frightening that children who work in agriculture – one of this country’s most dangerous occupations – receive fewer protections under U.S. law than juveniles working in other occupations. The CARE Act addresses this inequity by raising labor standards and protections for farmworker children to the same level set for children in occupations outside of agriculture.”

While retaining current exemptions for family farms, the CARE Act brings the age and work hour standards for children working in agriculture up to the standards set for all other forms of child labor.  Under the measure, teenagers would need to be at least 16 years of age to work in agricultural fields and at least 18 years of age to perform particularly hazardous work.  The bill retains an existing exemption that permits 14 and 15 year olds to work in certain agriculture jobs, during limited shifts and outside of school hours.  The measure also provides farmworker children with greater protections against pesticide exposure in the fields.

“Farmworker children often work long hours, use hazardous farm equipment, earn sub-minimum wages, and are continually exposed to hazardous pesticides,” Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard said.  “Our farmworker children deserve the same protections given to children in other industries; if they are too young they should not be working, and if they are working, they deserve protection from long hours and unsafe work practices,” the congresswoman added.

In addition to addressing the age and hour requirements for child farmworkers, CARE addresses several other problem areas:

• To serve as a stronger deterrent for employers who violate child labor laws, the bill increases the maximum civil monetary penalties for child labor violations from $11,000 to $50,000 and increases the maximum criminal penalties from six months imprisonment to five years.  The bill also raises the maximum penalty to $100,000 for willful or repeat violations that lead to the death or serious injury of a child worker.
• To provide children with greater protections against pesticide exposure in agriculture, CARE raises the labor protections for pesticide exposure to the levels currently enforced by the EPA. 
• To improve information gathering, the measure requires data collection on work-related injuries, illness, and deaths of children under age 18 in agriculture, as well as an annual report by the Secretary of Labor on child labor in the U.S.