The Biden administration wants to reverse an alarming uptick in child labor violations involving migrant children at US companies.
Leaders of the US departments of Labor and Health and Human Services announced Monday they are taking new steps to address exploitative child labor practices, including forming an inter-agency taskforce on “Child Labor Exploitation” and launching a national strategic enforcement initiative from the Wage and Hour Division.
As part of that effort, senior administration officials said during a press call that the DOL would be “applying further scrutiny to companies who conduct business with employers and staffing agencies that use illegal child labor.”
“We will identify companies who maybe benefit directly from the exploitation of child labor and will increase accountability for systemic abuses of child labor,” the senior administration official said. The DOL is investigating over 600 child labor cases, according to Biden officials.
The administration is also asking Congress to increase funding for the enforcement effort, and pass legislation to increase civil monetary penalty amounts for child labor violations.
The new enforcement pact comes after the DOL recently uncovered egregious child labor violations across multiple industries and growing pressure from labor advocates and Democrats to tighten child labor regulations.
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