Labor Department must now train staff to spot human trafficking, under new law
President signed the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act into law on October 20, 2026, becoming Public Law 119-131. Introduced by Representative Tim Walberg in July 2025, the law directs the Secretary of Labor to train certain Department of Labor employees to detect human trafficking and help law enforcement during the course of their official duties.
The law gives the Secretary of Labor 180 days from enactment to set up a program providing training and periodic continuing education. Rather than training every employee, the Secretary decides which employees should receive the training based on their official duties. For employees of the department's Wage and Hour Division, the law directs the Secretary to consider the needs of those working in states seeing a significant increase in oppressive child labor, as defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The law sets out what the training must cover. It can be delivered in a classroom or virtually, and it must be tailored to the particular location or work environment of the employees receiving it and reflect current trends and best practices for that setting. It must include current information on detecting trafficking relevant to the employees' duties and consistent with privacy laws; methods for identifying suspected victims and parties suspected of trafficking; and a clear course of action for referring potential cases to the Department of Justice and other appropriate authorities. The law says those referrals should follow best practices for protecting victims' rights, including collaboration with victim advocacy organizations, federal agencies, and state and local officials. Employees are also to evaluate the training after completing it.
The law defines human trafficking by reference to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
It also requires the department to report to Congress. Within a year of first implementing the program, and every year after that, the Secretary must report to the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on the training provided, including its overall effectiveness and how many people completed it, and on the number of trafficking-related cases the department referred to the Justice Department and other authorities, along with how the department tracks the response to those referrals.
In its report accompanying the bill, the Committee on Education and Workforce said Labor Department enforcement personnel are "often on the front lines of human trafficking as they investigate workplace violations" and that the law would ensure they are educated to recognize patterns of trafficking and refer cases to law enforcement. The committee noted that the department already provides some of this training, and the Congressional Budget Office estimated the new annual report to Congress would cost less than $500,000 over the 2026-2030 period. The committee reported the bill favorably by a recorded vote of 36-0, and the House passed it by voice vote in March 2026 before the Senate cleared it.
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