Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, FEDERAL LEGISLATION—Reps. Scott and Omar introduce the Protecting Children Act, (Jun 13, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The federal government lacks the resources to address the recent surge in child labor violations.

The Protecting Children Act, new legislation introduced by Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Ranking Member Ilhan Omar (D-MN), seeks to end child labor in the U.S. The bill equips federal worker protections agencies to deter violations and to prevent harm to children resulting from intensive work in dangerous jobs.

Surge in child labor, lack of resources. According to the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), between 2015 and 2024, the number of children employed in violation of child labor laws has nearly quadrupled. The fact sheet for the legislation states that the surge in child labor violations is happening at a time when federal worker protection agencies are starved of resources, with the WHD being forced by budget constraints to cut the personnel hours spent on child labor enforcement every year since FY 2017. The Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget would cut WHD by nearly 10 percent, the fact sheet states.

Protecting Children Act. The Protecting Children Act renews the commitment to ending oppressive child labor by: increasing civil and criminal penalties for child labor violations, unsafe workplaces, and workplace injuries and deaths experienced by young workers; strengthening WHD’s ability to prevent the sale and movement of goods produced in violation of child labor rules; expanding capacity for enforcement, research, and data; improving the process for updating child labor rules and prohibiting any future weakening of those rules; and launching public information initiatives to keep policymakers and the public informed about child labor enforcement and training young workers on their rights.

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