- 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.
The U.S. Department of Commerce unveiled a diagnostic supply chain risk assessment tool, which will “utilize a comprehensive set of indicators to assess structural supply chain risk across the U.S. economy,” the agency said.
Companies will need to tighten up how they monitor their supply chains after a recent U.K. ruling determined that corporates could be open to money laundering charges if they fail to act in cases where they believe there is a risk of forced labor.
A U.S. Senate report found three European automakers—Volkswagen, BMW, and Jaguar Land Rover—sold cars in the United States with parts sourced from a supplier suspected of using forced labor from China’s Xinjiang region.
