- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Adrianne Appel2024-03-12T16:56:00
The Department of Labor (DOL) has stepped up its enforcement of child labor law amid a concerning rise in child labor exploitation.
In fiscal year 2023, the DOL investigated 955 cases that resulted in violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regarding child labor, a 14 percent increase from FY2022. The cases involved nearly 5,800 children illegally employed, an 88 percent increase since 2019.
The agency assessed more than $8 million in child labor civil penalties during FY23.
Many violations related to children who, while legal to work, were working too many hours or too late into the evening. But the sharpest rise was among children working in dangerous conditions, including meat processing plants and sawmills. Under the FLSA, it is illegal for anyone younger than 18 to work in a dangerous environment.
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The Department of Labor ordered Tennessee-based Tuff Torq Corp. to pay nearly $1.8 million over alleged child labor violations.
The European Union announced an agreement to ban products made with forced labor, a decision that will oblige organizations to track and declare more information about their supply chains for goods entering EU markets.
Fines for employing people who do not have a legal right to work in the United Kingdom have risen, meaning employers who fail to carry out the required checks or neglect to re-examine the status of those on temporary work visas could face substantial penalties.
It’s been nearly two years since the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act took effect, and as enforcement statistics and recent reports demonstrate, many businesses are still not adequately vetting their supply chains.
Rooting out potential child or forced labor violations in your company’s supply chain can have benefits beyond protecting reputation and being ethically sound. The process can also help your firm comply with pending child labor laws in other jurisdictions.
Although compliance should be the company’s primary responsibility, auditors have become the last line of defense and are getting pressured and blamed for supply chain issues, including instances of child labor. Is this expected to become the normal for the profession?
