Republican Sen. Jay Collins of Hillsborough County has filed a bill allowing employers to schedule minors to work at any time and for more than 30 hours per week.
SB 918, filed Wednesday afternoon, rehashes Republicans’ attempts during the 2024 legislative session to remove break requirements and scheduling limits for teenagers. Although the Legislature passed what was one of the most contested bills last year, the final result requires parents to sign a waiver for 16- and 17-year-olds to work more than 30 hours per week while school is in session and maintain a 30-minute break every four hours of their shift.
Collins wants to remove the waiver requirement for older teens and let them work earlier than 6:30 a.m. and after 11 p.m. on school nights. SB 918 would also get rid of the breaks. There is no House counterpart yet.
The changes wouldn’t only apply to minors over 16. Under the proposal, 14- and 15-year-olds who have graduated from high school, earned a GED, are homeschooled, or attend virtual school could also work longer hours.
“This legislation updates Florida’s minor employment regulations to federal standards, reducing confusion for employers and streamlining opportunities for young workers,” an aide for the senator wrote in an email to Florida Phoenix. “By making these adjustments, SB 918 supports both workforce development and the economic growth of Florida, empowering minors to gain valuable skills and experience in a responsible and structured work environment.”
While there are no federal limits on the number of hours or time of day that 16- and 17-year-olds can work, kids 15 and younger can’t work more than three hours per day on a school day and eight hours on a nonschool day, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Approximately 61,318 of 16- and 17-year-olds who attend school in Florida are also employed, according to an analysis of last year’s legislation from the Florida Policy Institute. The group opposed the changes Republicans originally proposed but considered the final version that is now law less harmful.
“Thanks to strong advocacy, what became law (HB 49) was less harmful than what was originally proposed, but FPI remained opposed. Now, a measure being proposed this session, SB 918, would chip away at youths’ eroding workplace rights even further,” said Alexis Tsoukalas, senior analyst for FPI, in a statement.
–Jackie Llanos, Florida Phoenix
Thomas Hutson says
So…Senator J Collins , another MAGA red supporter this is your answer to your King Trump’s deportations. Screw child labor laws!! We need the workers!!
Deborah Coffey says
It’s easy to see where this Nazi regime is headed…slave labor and child labor…so all the Nazis can stuff their pockets with oodles of money.
Laurel says
So, let’s see…public schools are being gutted, the Dept of Education dismantled, migrants removed and children can work 30 hours a week, without breaks, while school is in session. This is in the name of “opportunities” for our children?
Where are the posters? They should be going up soon. Proud American children in the fields and slaughter houses.
What do you figure the Republican politicians are up to? What is the Heritage Foundations vision?
The GOP is no more. Trump, and the *Republican* politicians need to be fired. They are obliviating our once great country.
Ray W, says
Republican legislators know what happens when immigrant laborers are deported. Without adequate numbers of native-born workers entering the workforce to replace the deported immigrant laborers, the cheapest way to replace them is to enlarge the child labor pool and to force the elderly back to work.
A few days ago, I commented about breakfasting with a friend each Sunday morning. Last Sunday, the restaurant’s cook had walked out after being berated once too often by a manager. I learned earlier this morning that a district manager and his wife were cooking. No new cooks have been found. Apparently, the managers who were cooking last Sunday were not available this morning. Perhaps they were worn out from cooking too much during the week.
Yes, I know that my story is anecdotal, but the number of posted unfilled job openings unexpectedly rose above 8 million, after steadily, though slowly, dropping for the past three years from its unprecedented peak early in 2022 of 12.2 million workers needed. Prior to the pandemic the number had never been over 8 million.
This is worthy of scrutiny over time, because unemployment levels dropped last month to 4%. Too many workers wanted and too few available unemployed puts upward pressure on wages, which can be an inflation trigger. Time will tell.