Justice for Exploited Children Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 7002 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7002 To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for enhanced penalties for child labor violations. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 9, 2026 Ms. Scholten (for herself, Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Landsman, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Norton, and Ms. Titus) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for enhanced penalties for child labor violations. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Justice for Exploited Children Act''. SEC. 2. CHILD LABOR PENALTIES. (a) Criminal Penalties.--Section 16(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. 216(a)) is amended-- (1) by striking ``Any'' and inserting ``(1) Any''; (2) by inserting ``(other than subsection (a)(4))'' after ``15''; (3) by striking ``this subsection'' each place it appears and inserting ``this paragraph''; and (4) by adding at the end the following: ``(2) Any person who repeatedly or willfully violates section 15(a)(4) shall upon conviction thereof be subject to a fine of not more than $100,000, or to imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both. ``(3) Any person shall upon conviction for a violation of section 15(a)(4) be subject to a fine of not more than $500,000, or to imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, if such violation was-- ``(A) willful and resulted in the death or serious injury of an employee under the age of 18 years; or ``(B) repeated and such violation and a prior violation each resulted in the death or