Scholten bill would increase penalties for employers who exploit child labor

Scholten bill would increase penalties for employers who exploit child labor
U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, speaks during a March 29 press conference about new legislation to increase fines for companies that illegally use child labor. (Screenshot)

A bipartisan bill introduced today by U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten would beef up penalties levied on companies that use illegal child labor practices.

Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, held a press conference today to detail the Justice for Exploited Children Act, which took shape following an explosive article by the New York Times that alleged that Hearthside Foods was employing underage migrant children in unsafe working conditions at facilities in West Michigan. 

Since the story broke, Scholten has helped implement an inter-agency task force approved by the Biden Administration in February. The task force, organized by Scholten, brings together the U.S. Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services to address migrant child exploitation in the workforce and enforce child labor laws. 

As a mother and Grand Rapids native, she said she felt it was her responsibility to take on this issue. 

The Justice for Exploited Children Act is a bipartisan emergency response legislation that will raise the civil monetary penalties for companies that violate child labor laws. The bill also would establish, for the first time in history, a minimum monetary penalty for guilty parties. 

Right now, the penalty is capped at a maximum fine of $15,138 and has no minimum. 

Scholten said the lack of a minimum is “an amount that neither provides a deterrence to a violation, nor conveys the value for the lives and safety of the children.” 

“These fines, when they’re enforced, are mere pennies for most of the companies and corporations that break these laws,” she said. “This is why we have to raise this cap. The bill would ensure that violators of child labor standards bear the cost of their exploitation, while also incentivizing companies to ensure the quality of their workforce and their supply chains.” 

Scholten’s bill introduces a maximum fine of $132,270 and a minimum of $5,000. 

“These numbers are designed as a deterrent and to further ensure that no child is exploited in this way going forward,” she said. 

Scholten is introducing this legislation alongside U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina.

“Unfortunately, the current civil penalties are the same that have been on the books since this legislation was introduced since the Fair Labor Standards Act began protecting exploited children,” Scholten said. “We are mere months away from the 85th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act, a law that’s set out to eliminate the scourge of child labor and we’ve learned instead that child labor is in fact, on the rise.”

“Children should be in school safe in their schools, not factories with dangerous working conditions. We have an opportunity to invest in our values and turn the tide against the endangerment of children’s health, safety, and wellbeing. That’s where the Justice for Exploited Children’s Act comes in. We hope it will do just that.” 

Scholten also reiterated the importance of keeping the focus on exploitative employers and the need to push for workforce and immigration reform as well as “the larger workforce shortage issue.” 

“This is a multi-system failure and it needs a multi-system response,” she said. “This is why I’m also simultaneously using this as a moment to call for comprehensive immigration reform. Not only is this a humanitarian issue, but it is a workforce issue.

“One of the main reasons why we see these issues continuing to perpetuate themselves is because employers and staffing agencies are in desperate need of workers. There are willing, eligible, safe grown-up workers around the world ready and willing to come to the United States. We just have to provide the legal vetting and the pathways to make it happen. And I’m already working in a bipartisan manner to ensure that we can address that issue as well.” 

Hearthside Foods was one of several manufacturers and organizations nationwide exposed by the New York Times in February for employing underage migrant children in unsafe conditions. The company, which responded to the allegations by the Times in a guest column published exclusively in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, said the claims “came as a shock and major disappointment.” The column, which outlined Hearthside’s employment policies, added that the company had suspended one of its staffing agencies that had not adhered to its requirements, but did not name the agency.