WASHINGTON – Representatives from the Domestic Policy Council, Department of Labor, Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Veterans Affairs convened today for a roundtable on Mental Health at Work at the White House. The discussion focused on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to promoting best practices to improve worker mental health in federal workplaces.

Roundtable participants consisted of federal employees – including Employee Assistance Program and work life coordinators – union leaders, EAP vendors, and mental health experts and advocates. All discussed the importance of eliminating stigma, reducing stress, and strengthening and improving mental health supports at federal agencies, and offered their recommendations for best practices.

During the roundtable, Department of Labor representatives discussed the ongoing Mental Health at Work Initiative, highlighting a new public service announcement on the need to create mental health-friendly workplaces.

“Mental health-friendly workplaces can have an important positive impact on workers’ lives, and this certainly includes those of federal employees,” said Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy Taryn Williams. “At the Department of Labor, we are raising awareness to reduce stigma around mental health at work, and to connect workers and employers with the resources they need to manage everything from day-to-day stress, to treating diagnosable mental health conditions, including substance use disorders.”

The Office of Personnel Management discussed efforts to revitalize Employee Assistance Programs as an important part of employee wellness. Released today, OPM’s new Employee Wellness Program guidance, which incorporates advice on EAP within a broader set of wellness programming, establishes parameters for Employee Wellness Programs; provides agency leaders with resources for themselves, agency work life coordinators, supervisors, and employees; and equips leaders with the information needed to promote employees access to wellness resources.

“Employee Wellness Programs are an essential part of supporting our workforce," said Rob Shriver, OPM Deputy Director. "These programs give leaders at all levels the tools and resources they need to promote and sustain well-being. We know that EAPs play an important role in minimizing negative stigmas around seeking mental health treatment and foster supportive and safe workplaces.”

The roundtable was part of the administration’s recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, and its broader commitment to making the federal government a model employer.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Public Affairs Julie McClain Downey issued the following statement on the April 2023 Employment Situation Report:

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 253,000 jobs in the month of April, and the unemployment rate ticked down to a historic low mark of 3.4 percent – the lowest since May 1969. The last time the unemployment rate was lower was October 1953. 

“The report shows that the Biden-Harris administration’s actions have created a period of steady economic growth, marked by increased equity and historic levels of workforce participation for key demographics.  

“Average hourly earnings are up 4.4 percent over the year, and production and nonsupervisory employees are seeing average hourly earnings up 5 percent in that period, which is helping our workers keep pace with increased costs. Combined with steady increases in health care, construction, transportation and professional and business services jobs this month, this puts Americans on an increasingly solid footing to meet their families’ needs. 

“Women are making historic contributions to our country’s economic well-being. For prime-age women, the labor force participation rate was 77.5 percent in April, the highest rate since this measurement began in 1948. Additionally, in March, Black unemployment hit an all-time low at 5.0 percent. In April, it reached another: 4.7 percent. The President’s determination that no community be left behind is paying off. Continued focus on eliminating longstanding barriers and creating pathways to enable even more women and people in marginalized communities to fully participate in the economic life of our country will be crucial to sustain these gains. 

“The President’s Investing in America agenda continues to ease the economic burdens on families and create new avenues to prosperity. The Good Jobs initiative at the Department of Labor is achieving its objective of getting good jobs to people in an equitable way to ensure that this recovery is sustained, equitable and long-lasting for communities across the country.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Julie McClain Downey issued the following statement on the March 2023 Employment Situation Report:

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 236,000 jobs in the month of March, and the unemployment rate ticked down to its historic low mark of 3.5 percent. With 12.6 million jobs added since President Biden took office, an average of 345,000 jobs added over the past three months, and more Americans entering the labor force and finding opportunities, this report indicates that the economy is continuing to provide steady, stable job growth that benefits workers and their families.

“Job growth was relatively widespread, with significant gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, government, and healthcare – with welcome and ongoing progress in the home healthcare settings, hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities that were hit hard by the pandemic.

“This recovery continues to be distinguished by signs of increased equity in our nation’s economic systems. In March the unemployment rate for Black workers fell to a record low of 5.0 percent, and a record low of 4.2 percent for Black women.

“As the President’s Investing in America agenda spurs job growth and reduces costs in communities across the nation, at the Department of Labor we remain focused on ensuring that these opportunities are available to all. Our Good Jobs Initiative is working across the government and the economy to improve job quality and increase equitable access to good jobs through this administration’s historic investments.”

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services today announced a Memorandum of Agreement to advance ongoing efforts to address child labor exploitation. 

The department’s Wage and Hour Division and the Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Children and Families signed the agreement to formalize a partnership between the agencies, and outline procedures the agencies will follow as they work together to deepen information-sharing, coordination, training and education. The MOA seeks to maximize the division’s enforcement of the child labor protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act, to enhance the ability to protect children from exploitation and to connect individuals to needed benefits and services. The MOA include unprecedented steps for greater collaboration between the two agencies to prevent and address illegal child labor.

The agreement will do the following:

• Help identify geographies and employers where children are likely being exploited.
• Aid investigations by providing information to help identify circumstances where children are unlawfully employed.
• Facilitate coordination to ensure that victims or potential victims of child labor trafficking have access to critical services.

The agreement will also support the efforts of the interagency child labor task force announced on Feb. 27, 2023. The task force seeks to promote further collaboration and improve information-sharing between federal agencies, and to advance the health, education and well-being of children in the U.S.  

“Our partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services will help us continue to combat illegal child labor and protect the most vulnerable,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “Our economy cannot – and will not – rely on the illegal hiring of vulnerable children. We will work across the federal government and with local and state partners to fight child labor exploitation.”

Since 2018, the Department of Labor has seen a 69 percent increase in children employed in violation of child labor laws. On Feb. 17, 2023, the department announced the resolution of one of the largest child labor cases in its history against Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD. Currently, the department is investigating more than 600 child labor cases.   

“Child labor exploitation can disrupt a youth’s health, safety, education and overall well-being, which are unacceptable consequences for any child,” said Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families January Contreras. “This partnership with the Department of Labor provides further opportunity to carry out our mission of protecting the well-being of children by arming ourselves and our partners – inside and outside of government – with the information and tools needed to help us all be a part of preventing and responding to child labor exploitation.”

In addition to the MOA, the two departments have announced steps to further strengthen collaboration to combat child labor. The Department of Labor is holding employers like PSSI accountable for systemic abuses of child labor and launched a strategic enforcement initiative on child labor, now underway. It is also enhancing scrutiny for all employers to target labor violations at all steps in a supply chain. Finally, the department is calling on Congress to strengthen protections for all child workers and increase civil monetary penalties for child labor violations.

For its part, HHS is expanding post-release services for children and sponsors after children have left their care. The departments are collaborating on training materials to be deployed to relevant HHS programs and partners, and for unaccompanied children and their sponsors to educate them about child labor laws in the U.S. and their rights. Both departments will continue to collaborate on the creation of materials that are clear, easily accessible, and available to children, sponsors and other stakeholders.

Young workers, parents, teachers, advocates and employers are encouraged to visit the department’s YouthRules! website for information about child labor laws. Employers may use its Compliance Assistance Toolkit to ensure they comply with federal child labor laws.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of where they are from – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

WASHINGTON – For women working in the U.S., the date of Equal Pay Day isn’t a day of celebration. Rather, the day is a reminder that it takes women 15 months to earn the same amount as men earned in 12 months.

Today is Equal Pay Day in 2023, a reminder of systemic inequality faced by women and especially those of color. In the U.S., women who work full-time, year-round, are paid an average of 83.7 percent as much as men, which amounts to a difference of $10,000 per year. The gaps are even larger for many women of color and women with disabilities.

“Equal Pay Day – the day of the year when women working in the U.S. finally earn the same amount as men did in the year before – is an unfortunate reminder that historic wage inequity continues,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “The Biden-Harris administration has made unprecedented investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act and remains determined to remove barriers that prevent women from obtaining good-paying jobs found in the projects these investments will fund to help close the gender wage gap.”

The U.S. Department of Labor has several agency initiatives underway to combat gender and racial pay disparities in the workforce and ensure equity in the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Chips and Science and Inflation Reduction acts. They include the following:

• The launch of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ Mega Construction Project Program to foster equal opportunity in the construction trades workforce by removing hiring barriers and promoting diversity as qualified workers are considered for construction jobs. Read an OFCCP fact sheet to help employers take proactive approaches to pay equity.
• The Employment and Training Administration’s March 6, 2023, announcement of a cooperative agreement of nearly $20 million to support TradesFutures, the National Urban League and their community partners in developing a strategy to substantially increase the number of participants from underrepresented populations – including women and underserved communities – in Registered Apprenticeships in the construction industry. The effort will enroll more than 13,000 participants in apprenticeship readiness programs and place at least 7,000 participants in construction industry Registered Apprenticeships.
• Publication by the Women’s Bureau of a brief on the causes of the gender wage gap, including new statistics and analyses of gender and racial wage gaps, and a second brief on salary history bans legislation that prohibit employers from asking about prior salaries as a way to promote equal pay includes historic information on equal pay legislation and policymaking, salary history bans’ benefits and design and other policies for closing the gender wage gap.
• The ongoing Good Jobs Initiative provides tools with practical strategies to increase equal employment opportunities on infrastructure projects, including using Project Labor Agreements as Tools for Equity and establishing Access and Opportunity Committees, stakeholder groups that meet regularly to monitor and support diversity and equity goals on a specific project.

“To build an inclusive economy, we need to enable workers to obtain jobs based on their interests, skills and aptitude rather than gender, race or ethnicity, and promote good-paying jobs that follow fair wage setting practices, like those found in union employment, to help to eliminate the wage gap,” Acting Secretary Su added.

Learn more about Equal Pay and Pay Transparency Protections.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the February 2023 Employment Situation Report:

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 311,000 jobs in the month of February. With 12.4 million jobs added since President Biden took office, and an average of 351,000 jobs added per month over the past three months, this growth continues the steady, stable progress that is bringing opportunities to more workers and security to more families across the country. Growth was especially strong in the leisure and hospitality sector, as restaurants and bars added jobs, in retail trade, and in healthcare, where hospitals and nursing homes added significant numbers of jobs. The unemployment rate remained near its historic low, ticking up to 3.6 percent as more people continued to enter labor markets looking for work.

“Tomorrow marks the two-year anniversary of the President’s signing of the American Rescue Plan. At that time, the unemployment rate was 6.2 percent, millions of workers were still unable to return to work, and businesses across the country were struggling to reopen. Many experts were predicting that the unemployment rate would not return to four percent until 2026. Instead, under President Biden’s plan, the unemployment rate has now been under four percent for a full year, and in February, for the first time, labor force participation for adults between the ages of 25-54 is higher than it was before the pandemic. This remarkable recovery is a testament to the effectiveness of the President’s worker-centered policies and to the resilience and dedication of America’s workers.

“At the same time, we have the opportunity to keep helping more people return to work by ensuring there are good jobs for all workers and by addressing family care needs. The President’s budget proposal does just that, by investing in childcare solutions for millions of families and strengthening protections, supports, and training opportunities for workers in every community of our country.”

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh convened the “Youth Employment Works Summit” today at U.S. Department of Labor headquarters to unveil the department’s strategy for building a workforce in which all young people can prepare for opportunities for high-quality careers.

Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves; public and private stakeholders in government, business, labor, non-profits and trade groups; and more than 150 youth employment experts and young people joined the Secretary to discuss how they can organize to deliver upon the strategy’s goals.

The summit included panel discussions that explored building pathways to good jobs for young people and centering federal agencies’ work on them, and how young people in disadvantaged communities or justice-involved youth can access the training and support services they need. The event also gave young workers an opportunity to describe their employment experiences and enabled stakeholders to share their priorities.

“Today is about critical partnerships. Every sector and every stakeholder have a role to play,” said Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “Establishing these partnerships is how we build the ‘no wrong door’ system. Wherever a young person reaches out: there needs to be a way into opportunity and a path forward into a career.”

The Youth Employment Works strategy centers on three goals:

• Ensuring the workforce system offers seamless access to job opportunities and supportive services for young people entering the labor force from all pathways.
• Encouraging partners across all public and private sectors to invest in workforce training and job services for all young people.
• Guaranteeing all young people – especially so called “opportunity youth,” between 16 and 24 who are neither employed nor enrolled in school who face barriers to accessible jobs – have access to paid work experiences aligned with high-quality career pathways that are safe and age appropriate.

Representatives from the departments of Commerce, Education and Transportation were on hand and underscored their agencies’ commitments to support the whole government approach to investing in employment opportunities for the future workforce.

Today’s summit aligns with the department’s ongoing effort to help connect people in historically marginalized populations and communities that disproportionately face employment barriers with good jobs.

Read Secretary Walsh’s call to action for all stakeholders.  

WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris administration today released President Biden’s budget for fiscal year 2024. The budget details a blueprint to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out, lower costs for families, protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security, and reduce the deficit by ensuring the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share – all while ensuring no one making less than $400,000 per year pays more in taxes.

“President Biden’s 2024 budget request of $15.1 billion in discretionary resources for the Department of Labor allows us to fulfill our commitment to advance equity in all aspects of our work, including enforcing lifesaving safety and health laws, advancing Registered Apprenticeships and sector-based training, and securing retirements for millions of workers and families,” said Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “The proposed budget delivers on the promise to make sure people in all communities have access to good jobs, and that all workers in America can count on the Department of Labor to be there for them morning, noon and night.”

The budget makes critical, targeted investments in the American people that will promote greater prosperity and economic growth for decades to come. At the Department of Labor, the budget:

• Empowers and protects workers: To ensure employers treat workers with dignity and respect, the budget invests $2.3 billion – an increase of $430 million over the 2023 enacted level – in the department’s worker protection agencies. The budget will enable the department to promote fair, safe and healthful workplaces for all, especially those in high-risk and underserved communities, combat exploitative child labor, and protect the benefits and financial security of all workers. The budget will also enable the department to promote equity through enhanced enforcement efforts and targeted outreach and education for underserved communities, ensuring fair treatment for millions of workers by restoring resources to oversee and enforce the equal employment obligations of federal contractors, including protections against discrimination based on race, gender, disability, gender identity and sexual orientation. 
• Expands pathways to good jobs: The budget invests in effective, evidence-based training models to ensure all workers have the skills they need to obtain high-quality jobs. The budget provides $200 million to launch the “Sectoral Employment through Career Training for Occupational Readiness” program, which will scale evidence-based sector partnerships to empower employers in growing industries to design and implement high-quality training, ensuring they have their workforce needs met and that underserved workers have access to high-quality jobs. In addition, the budget requests $335 million to expand Registered Apprenticeship opportunities while increasing the number of apprentices from historically underrepresented groups. The budget also invests $100 million in community colleges to build their capacity to work with both the public workforce development system and employers to deliver high-quality training for in-demand jobs. The budget invests in strategic planning, partnership development and training and reemployment activities for displaced workers, including resources to address changes in the energy economy.
• Improves access and equity in the unemployment insurance system: The budget invests $3.7 billion – an increase of $522 million above the 2023 enacted level – to modernize, protect and strengthen this critical program. This includes several investments aimed at tackling fraud in the UI program. The budget includes a $150 million investment to support more effective identity verification for unemployment insurance applicants and help states develop and test fraud-prevention tools and strategies. The budget also provides additional resources to allow the Office of Inspector General to increase its investigations into criminal fraud rings who target the UI program. In addition, the budget proposes a comprehensive legislative package of program integrity proposals designed to provide states with new tools and resources to combat UI fraud and improper payments while ensuring equity and accessibility for all claimants.
• Expands employment protections for military spouses: Military families make significant sacrifices on behalf of the nation, including overcoming the many challenges that spouses of active-duty service and reserve members experience in finding and retaining good jobs. Spouses of military servicemembers often face discrimination by current and prospective employers due to the frequent and unpredictable nature of deployment and relocations. The budget addresses these challenges by expanding anti-discrimination and reemployment protections to spouses of all active-duty and reserve members, which would allow them to more easily find and keep good jobs.
• Safeguards equal opportunity and nondiscrimination: The budget makes key investments to provide additional support to the Civil Rights Center to expand its enforcement work; the Women’s Bureau to support its efforts to remedy the negative impact of the pandemic on women and help marginalized women understand and access their employment rights; the Secretary’s policy office to support the department’s agencies in removing barriers for members of underserved communities in accessing its programs; invests resources in the Good Jobs Initiative to further embed equity in all departmental programs and promote good jobs principles; and the Office of Disability Employment Policy to fund Equitable Transition Model programs that will develop scalable strategies to enable low-income youth with disabilities to transition to employment. 
• Strengthens mental health parity protections: The budget requires all health plans to cover mental health and substance use disorder benefits, strengthens the network of behavioral health providers and improves the department’s ability to enforce the law. Additionally, the budget includes $275 million over 10 years to increase the department’s capacity to ensure that large group market health plans and issuers comply with mental health and substance use disorder requirements, and to take action against plans and issuers that do not comply.

Building on the President’s strong record of fiscal responsibility, the budget more than fully pays for its investments—reducing deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade by asking the wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share.

Learn more about President Biden’s FY 2024 Budget.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on President Biden’s announcement of his intent to nominate Julie Su as the next secretary of labor:

“I am grateful to President Biden for announcing his intent to nominate my dear friend and colleague, Deputy Secretary Julie Su, to succeed me as U.S. Secretary of Labor. 

“Julie has been a true partner in leading the Department of Labor, and her drive and vision have been central to everything we have achieved over the past two years. 

“As Deputy Secretary, Julie’s achievements – prioritizing rights and protections for the most vulnerable workers; driving our equity work; attracting diverse, world-class talent into public service; modernizing workforce development and unemployment insurance systems; and deepening our engagement with state and local governments – have been broad and deep. 

“She is a lifelong champion of America’s workers, and I have the utmost confidence in her ability to sustain the work of the department and advance the President’s vision of an economy that puts workers first and leaves no one behind.”

WASHINGTON – Since 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor has seen a 69 percent increase in children being employed illegally by companies. In the last fiscal year, the department found 835 companies it investigated had employed more than 3,800 children in violation of labor laws. The maximum civil monetary penalty under current law for a child labor violation is $15,138 per child. That’s not high enough to be a deterrent for major profitable companies.

The department takes these egregious violations very seriously and investigates every child labor complaint they receive and acts to hold employers accountable. On Feb. 17, 2023, the Department of Labor announced the resolution of one of the largest child labor cases in its history against Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD. The department currently has over 600 child labor investigations underway and continues to field complaints and initiate investigations to protect children. 

At the same time, the U.S. has seen an influx in migrant children from Latin America fleeing violence and poverty, a majority of whom do not have a parent in the U.S..

“Every child in this country, regardless of their circumstance, deserves protection and care as we would expect for our own child,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. “At Health and Human Services, we will continue to do our part to protect the safety and wellbeing of unaccompanied children by providing them appropriate care while they are in our custody; placing them in the custody of parents, relatives, and other appropriate sponsors after vetting; and conducting post-release services including safety and wellbeing calls. Everyone from employers to local law enforcement and civic leaders must do their part to protect children.”

“We see every day the scourge of child labor in this country, and we have a legal and a moral obligation to take every step in our power to prevent it. Too often, companies look the other way and claim that their staffing agency, or their subcontractor or supplier is responsible. Everyone has a responsibility here,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “This is not a 19th century problem – this is a today problem. We need Congress to come to the table, we need states to come to the table. This is a problem that will take all of us to stop.”

As the challenge of child labor exploitation – particularly of migrant children – increases nationwide, the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services are announcing the following actions to increase their efforts to thoroughly vet sponsors of migrant children, investigate child labor violations and hold the companies accountable:

A Department of Labor-led Interagency Taskforce to Combat Child Labor Exploitation: The task force will further collaboration and improve information sharing among agencies, as well as advance the health, education, and well-being of children in the U.S. For instance, timely information regarding active child labor investigations, as appropriate, enables HHS to apply additional scrutiny in the sponsor vetting process when warranted because of geographic or other concerns. Through this task force, the agencies will also jointly conduct education and training initiatives in relevant communities.

A National Strategic Enforcement Initiative on Child Labor: As part of this new initiative, the department’s Wage and Hour Division will use data-driven, worker-focused strategies to initiate investigations where child-labor violations are most likely to occur. And, the division and the department’s Office of the Solicitor will use all available enforcement tools, including penalties, injunctions, stopping the movement of goods made with child labor, and criminal referrals where warranted. 

Hold All Employers Accountable: The Department of Labor will hold all employers accountable to ensure child labor is removed from supply chains. This will include applying further scrutiny to companies doing business with employers using illegal child labor to increase corporate accountability for system abuses of child labor laws. Too frequently employers who contract for services are not vigilant about who is working in their facilities, creating child labor violations up and down the supply chain. With the increased reliance of staffing agencies and subcontracting, host companies are often claiming that they are unaware or unable to control child labor issues happening at their worksites. 

Mandated Follow Up Calls for Unaccompanied Children Who Report Safety Concerns: HHS will require a follow-up call to any child who calls the Office of Refugee Resettlement National Call Center with a safety concern. ORRNCC currently refers every safety related call to the appropriate law enforcement agency or child protective services. This additional call will serve as a critical follow up with the child. And, ORRNCC will immediately incorporate language into its training materials to ensure former unaccompanied children who reach out to the helpline clearly understand which authorities their safety concerns will be reported to.

Expand Post Release Services for Unaccompanied Children: HHS will continue to work with Congress to provide sufficient resources for ORR to provide post release services to all children and sponsors by 2025. Under the Biden-Harris administration, ORR has increased its capacity to provide post release services to more children. In fiscal year 2023, ORR is on track to serve nearly 60 percent of children released with such services, up from 24 percent of children when President Biden took office, and ORR attempts to reach all children and sponsors with safety and wellbeing calls. Additional post release services include assistance in registering children for school, ensuring they understand the immigration legal process and can attend their court hearings, and help finding medical, mental health, and family counseling services for which they may be eligible.

Increased Funding for the Department of Labor’s Enforcement Agencies: The Department of Labor is calling on Congress to meet the funding request in the President’s forthcoming budget for the Wage and Hour Division and the Office of the Solicitor to investigate child labor cases. Between 2010 and 2019, the division lost 12 percent of its staff because it was nearly flat-funded during this period. And, the Office of the Solicitor has essentially been flat funded for more than a decade, resulting in the loss of more than 100 attorneys as costs have increased. With modest funding increases over the last few years, American Rescue Plan funding for COVID-related investigations, and a strong focus on hiring during the Biden-Harris administration, the agency has begun to increase its staffing levels. But it still has not received anything near the funding level the President requested in the FY2023 Budget to allow the agency to meaningfully rebuild its staff and enforcement capacity. The President’s request for the Wage and Hour Division was about $50 million higher than the amount the agency received in the FY2023 appropriations bill and his request for the Solicitor’s Office was also nearly $50 million higher.  

Call on Congress to Increase Civil Monetary Penalties for Companies that Use Child Labor: The maximum civil money penalty under current law for a child labor violation is $15,138 per child. That’s not high enough to be a deterrent for major profitable companies. The Department of Labor is calling on Congress to increase civil monetary penalties, strengthening protections from retaliation for people who report child labor law violations and investigating corporations flouting child labor laws.

Audit ORR Sponsor Vetting Process: HHS will conduct an audit over the next four weeks of the vetting process for potential sponsors who have previously sponsored an unaccompanied child. HHS is immediately reviewing current policies regarding its vetting requirements for potential sponsors who have previously sponsored unaccompanied children to ensure all necessary safeguards are in place without unnecessarily keeping children in government-funded, congregate care settings. HHS will provide additional training for case managers and staff on how to assess these cases. This audit builds on steps that HHS has already taken to increase vetting of sponsors, including updating the case management system to more easily identify cases where children could be released to an individual who has previously sponsored children.

New Training Material for Unaccompanied Children to Know Their Rights: ORR is creating new materials and new staff training to provide more information to unaccompanied children in care and potential sponsors about child labor laws in the U.S. to ensure children and sponsors know their rights and understand the legal restrictions on working under the age of 18.