The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has recently intensified its measures against violators of child labor laws. The department is primarily seeking what are being referred to as “disgorgement” remedies. These specific remedies aim to seize the profits of companies which have been found guilty of engaging in illegal child labor. The move represents a significant escalation in the DOL’s approach to combating child labor offenses, seen as a necessary progression to counter an increasing trend of minors working in unsafe conditions.
Seema Nanda, the US Labor Solicitor, has reiterated that wage-and-hour enforcers will specifically target companies demonstrating egregious violations of child labor laws for disgorgement remedies. In the opinion of the Solicitor, such decisive action is required to deter other corporations from engaging in similar illegal behaviors, concerning the employment of underage workers in hazardous environments.
Just recently, the DOL, under Nanda’s leadership, has successfully secured a $1.5 million disgorgement remedy in a consent judgment with Tuff Torq Corp., a prominent manufacturer of components for major corporations like John Deere, Toro, and Yamaha. The calculated financial recovery, equivalent to 30 days of profits garner from the use of illegal child labor, will be directly awarded to the minors involved.
However, achieving these remedies require successful court enforcement actions, implying that the breadth and impact of this legal strategy could be contingent on the DOL’s legal prowess and the court’s application of labor law, a state of affairs that would require careful monitoring by legal professionals.
Read more about the emerging DOL strategy and its implications on
Bloomberg Law.