Congressman Ruiz Reintroduces CARE Act to Close Dangerous Gaps in Child Labor Laws in the Agriculture Industry

Washington, D.C. – Today, on International Children’s Day (November 20), Congressman Raul Ruiz (CA-25) reintroduced the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act), legislation that extends the same child-labor protections that apply in every other industry to children working in agriculture.

Current federal law allows children as young as 12 to work long hours in the fields under hazardous conditions — standards far weaker than those for non-agricultural jobs. The CARE Act closes these loopholes by aligning age limits and hazardous-task restrictions, strengthening enforcement, and improving data collection on injuries and fatalities.

“Children particularly those in farmworker communities deserve the same basic protections as every other child. Right now, a child dies in an agriculture-related incident about every three days, and that is unacceptable,” said Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz (CA-25). “The CARE Act will finally bring fairness, safety, and accountability to protect the health and futures of vulnerable youth.” 

“We love the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety because it levels the playing field for farmworker children and closes exemptions to child labor law that never should have existed,” said Director of Child Labor Advocacy Reid Maki of the Child Labor Coalition and the National Consumers League. “Farmworker children face many dangers working in agriculture, and it makes no sense to allow them to do it at younger ages than teens working in any other sector. It also doesn’t make sense to allow them to do hazardous work at 16 when all other teens must be 18 to perform dangerous work. More than 200 groups agree that these exemptions need to be closed now.”

“The US will not fix the country’s child labor problem until Congress provides children working in agriculture with the same protections as all other working children. Congress should pass this bill without delay to protect children from dangerous work that harms their health and development,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director, Human Rights Watch.

Key Provisions of the Bill

• Aligns the age, work-hour, and hazardous-task restrictions for youth in agriculture with those in non‐agricultural occupations.
• Strengthens pesticide and chemical exposure limits for minors working in farm settings.
• Increases civil and criminal penalties for employers who violate child labor protections in agricultural contexts.
• Boosts funding for the monitoring, reporting and enforcement of child labor standards in the agriculture industry.
• Establishes a federal research and data collection initiative aimed at accurately tracking youth injuries and fatalities in farm labor.

###