Congress moves to protect child farmworkers from hazards 4× deadlier than other jobs

What it does

The CARE Act of 2025 strengthens federal protections for child farmworkers by raising the minimum age for agricultural work, eliminating a waiver that allowed younger hand-harvest laborers, increasing civil and criminal penalties for violations, requiring employers to report serious injuries or deaths of child workers within 5 days, and mandating the Department of Labor collect and publish annual data on child farmworker injuries. The bill aims to bring agricultural child labor rules closer to protections that already exist in other industries.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to strengthen federal child labor protections in agriculture through age restrictions, penalty increases, employer reporting, and data collection—a straightforward public-safety measure with no hidden mechanism or narrow beneficiary carve-out.

What the text implies

• Employer reporting requirement (5 days for serious injury/illness/death) creates a new compliance burden and paper trail that may deter some agricultural employers from hiring minors, potentially reducing child labor through friction rather than explicit prohibition.
• Annual DOL data collection and Federal Register publication establishes a public accountability mechanism; states with high child farmworker injury rates will face reputational pressure and may strengthen their own enforcement.
• Criminal penalties (up to 5 years imprisonment for willful violations causing death/serious injury) represent a significant escalation from civil penalties alone and may shift enforcement culture in agricultural sectors with high violation rates.
• Pesticide-handler prohibition (Section 9) is narrowly tailored to a specific hazard class but does not ban all agricultural work for minors under 18—family farm exemptions remain, preserving a traditional carve-out while tightening non-family employment rules.

Who it affects

Hundreds of thousands of children working in agriculture face hazards at 4× the fatality rate of other young workers, with minimal federal oversight. This bill extends basic labor protections already standard in other industries—raising minimum age, banning pesticide-handler work for minors, increasing penalties for violations, and creating transparency through injury reporting and data collection. Ordinary children and families in agricultural communities are better protected; enforcement and a

Named in the bill

Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), State employment security agencies, Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 170 (pesticide worker protection), CFR Part 570 (child labor regulations)

Where it stands

6 cosponsors: 6 Democrats.

• Nov 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Nov 17, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.