Title 29, LaborRelease 119-102
§215 Prohibited Acts; Prima Facie Evidence
Title 29 › CHAPTER 8 — FAIR LABOR STANDARDS › § 215
Summary
After 120 days from June 25, 1938, it is illegal for anyone to move, offer, ship, deliver, or sell in commerce any goods if those goods were made by employees who were working in violation of section 206 or 207, or any rule or order under section 214. A carrier who only transports goods it did not make is not liable, and carriers must still accept goods for shipment. A buyer who paid fair value in good faith and relied on a written assurance from the producer, without knowing about a violation, is not guilty. The law also bans violating sections 206 or 207, firing or punishing employees for filing complaints or testifying or serving on an industry committee, breaking section 212, breaking section 211(c) or related rules (including making required records that are knowingly false), and breaking section 218d. If an employee worked at the place where goods were made within 90 days before those goods were removed, that fact will be taken as proof that the employee helped produce the goods.
Full Legal Text
Title 29, §215
Labor, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)After the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from June 25, 1938, it shall be unlawful for any person—
(1)to transport, offer for transportation, ship, deliver, or sell in commerce, or to ship, deliver, or sell with knowledge that shipment or delivery or sale thereof in commerce is intended, any goods in the production of which any employee was employed in violation of section 206 or section 207 of this title, or in violation of any regulation or order of the Secretary issued under section 214 of this title; except that no provision of this chapter shall impose any liability upon any common carrier for the transportation in commerce in the regular course of its business of any goods not produced by such common carrier, and no provision of this chapter shall excuse any common carrier from its obligation to accept any goods for transportation; and except that any such transportation, offer, shipment, delivery, or sale of such goods by a purchaser who acquired them in good faith in reliance on written assurance from the producer that the goods were produced in compliance with the requirements of this chapter, and who acquired such goods for value without notice of any such violation, shall not be deemed unlawful;
(2)to violate any of the provisions of section 206 or section 207 of this title, or any of the provisions of any regulation or order of the Secretary issued under section 214 of this title;
(3)to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this chapter, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, or has served or is about to serve on an industry committee;
(4)to violate any of the provisions of section 212 of this title;
(5)to violate any of the provisions of section 211(c) of this title, or any regulation or order made or continued in effect under the provisions of section 211(d) of this title, or to make any statement, report, or record filed or kept pursuant to the provisions of such section or of any regulation or order thereunder, knowing such statement, report, or record to be false in a material respect; and
(6)to violate any of the provisions of section 218d of this title.
(b)For the purposes of subsection (a)(1) proof that any employee was employed in any place of employment where goods shipped or sold in commerce were produced, within ninety days prior to the removal of the goods from such place of employment, shall be prima facie evidence that such employee was engaged in the production of such goods.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2022—Subsec. (a)(6). Pub. L. 117–328 added par. (6). 1949—Subsec. (a)(1). Act Oct. 26, 1949, § 13(a), inserted provision protecting purchaser in good faith in sale of goods produced in violation of this chapter. Subsec. (a)(5). Act Oct. 26, 1949, § 13(b), inserted “or any regulation or order made or continued in effect under the provisions of section 211(d) of this title” after “211(c) of this title”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2022 Amendment Pub. L. 117–328, div. KK, § 103(b), Dec. 29, 2022, 136 Stat. 6096, provided that: “The
Amendments
made by section 102(b) [amending this section and section 216 of this title] shall take effect on the date that is 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 29, 2022].”
Effective Date
of 1949 AmendmentAmendment by act Oct. 26, 1949, effective ninety days after Oct. 26, 1949, see section 16(a) of act Oct. 26, 1949, set out as a note under section 202 of this title. Liability of Public Agency for Discrimination Against Employee for Assertion of Coverage Pub. L. 99–150, § 8, Nov. 13, 1985, 99 Stat. 791, provided that: “A public agency which is a State, political subdivision of a State, or an interstate governmental agency and which discriminates or has discriminated against an employee with respect to the employee’s wages or other terms or conditions of employment because on or after
February 19, 1985, the employee asserted coverage under section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 [29 U.S.C. 207] shall be held to have violated section 15(a)(3) of such Act [29 U.S.C. 215(a)(3)]. The protection against discrimination afforded by the preceding sentence shall be available after
August 1, 1986, only for an employee who takes an action described in section 15(a)(3) of such Act.”
Executive Documents
Transfer of Functions
For
Transfer of Functions
of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of Labor, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of Labor, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 6 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1263, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
29 U.S.C. § 215
Title 29, Labor
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102