A controversial measure in the Legislature that would remove restrictions on work hours for 16 and 17-year-olds sparked concerns from members of the public Wednesday, saying teens could potentially be harmed by the changes.
The proposal by Tampa Bay area Republican Rep. Linda Chaney (HB 49) would allow 16 and 17-year olds to work more than 30 hours a week during the school year and allow for fewer mandatory work breaks.
“Employers consider the entry level work of teens like jobs in hospitality, grocery and retail to be ‘invisible curriculum’ that teaches them the soft skills that bolsters candidates for future opportunities,” Chaney told lawmakers in introducing the legislation. “HR mangers say Gen X’ers lack career readiness skills, reducing their employment opportunities. These skills are learned as teens in their entry level positions, if they so choose.”
The proposal was approved on a party-line vote on Wednesday in the House Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee, and is just one committee stop away from making it to the House floor for final approval. (The state Senate also would have to approve the measure, as would Gov. Ron DeSantis.)
The bill is being pushed by business interests in Florida, who unabashedly admit that they want the measure to pass to help them with a statewide labor shortage.
“Additional labor is desperately needed in Florida’s tourism industry,” said Samantha Padgett, the vice president for government relations and general counsel for the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.
Florida is at least the 16th state to introduce roll back child labor protections in the past two years, and the 13th state to introduce such legislation in 2023, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Educators, labor advocates and those from farm working communities spoke out against the bill, saying it will harm the development of teenagers. “Let kids be kids,” was the response from several of those who spoke before the committee.
Based on teen work trends, the Florida Policy Institute estimates that up to 94,000 teens who are in the labor force in Florida could be directly impacted by the bill, including 80,000 who are currently employed.
Jessica Ramirez works with the Farmworkers Association of Florida and traveled from Apopka to speak at the committee hearing. She said her community was concerned with the measure because families like hers already have their children helping pay family bills.
“I have a 17-year old girl in high school,” she said. “She plays soccer…and also has a part-time job. When soccer is finished she asks for more hours in her job. But I’m thinking now if this bill passes, if the boss says, ‘Oh you have to work those hours, if you don’t work those hours you’re going to be fired,’ so, what’s she going to do? Leave the school or get fired from work? That’s not fair because she loves work.”
Ellen Baker, a schoolteacher in Palm Beach County, says she sees kids falling asleep right now with the current law in place.
“They tell us they’re tired because they’re working,” she said. “Struggling workers will have less time to do their homework, and they will have a decreased ability to stay awake in class.”
But some Republicans grew weary of the concerns about teenagers.
“I think we’re wrapping our kids in bubble wrap here,” said GOP Rep. Jeff Holcomb, who represents Pasco and Hernando counties in the House.
Chaney also said some of the comments from the public and Democrats were misplaced.
“This bill is not about children, this bill is about teenagers,” she said. “They’re 16 and 17-years old. They’re driving cars. They are not children. This is not child labor.”
A measure that shares many but not all of the same policies as Chaney’s bill was just filed within the last week by Pasco County Republican Danny Burgess in the Senate. SB 1596 has yet to scheduled in any committees in that chamber.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Robert says
Florida is throwing away child labor laws and also going to allow 18 year old permission to purchase weapons. I only see trouble down the road.
Endless Dark Money says
Wow banning books and dismantling child protection laws shows they really care about their future wage slaves.
Deborah Coffey says
Despicable. BUT, Republicans absolutely love uneducated people…because they can be easily controlled with lies.
Angela says
Don’t pat yourself on the back for this decision. If we wanted to help our underserved students, we would teach them 21st Century Skills like the rich parents do for their children. Increasing the number of hours teenagers work entry-level jobs. This takes away the time and energy to spend on preparing for a successful career, financial stability, and home ownership. This increase in hours will help develop a new model for a system to ensure low wage workers stay put for life along with their offspring. This way the rich will have someone to serve them or check them out or care for their home all the time. The rich especially disliked how the workforce dropped during COVID. Under-served students desire a good life and are willing to work for it. Just give them a method to success and watch our nation become the best at ethical workforce development.
Pogo says
@Context, information matter
And always, who profits? And when, how, and why.
https://floridareportcard.com/legislator/rep-linda-chaney/
Related
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=truth
Robjr says
A new demographic to exploit.
Mike says
I’ve been working over 50 hours a week since I was 14. These kids don’t want to work. Pass the bill, it’s not going to change anything.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
This is great news! If there’s one thing that will instill good grades it is 100% working a full time job to help your family make rent on a $2000/mo 6′ x 6′ closet while trying to pass your high school classes, great job florida legislature you’re really For The People.
Maybe they can save up their money and buy a car to live in, seriously this state needs to float off into the ocean and sink
Mtn. Man says
With the high inflation rates that Biden has caused have you rocket scientist ever thought that maybe their family may need the extra income to survive or maybe the student may be starting a life of their own.
wow says
Let’s just say Republicans are not know for their concern for workers. What I would imagine is that rich kids are not going to have jobs anyway — too busy with their lacrosse team and their riding lessons. So what will happen is poor kids, who already work, will be forced to up their hours “because now it’s legal”.
Why don’t we put some of the immigrants to work in those entry level jobs? That might address a labor shortage.
I don’t think we have to balance business owners’ needs on the back of 16 and 17 year old kids.
JC says
Good, I am all for teenagers working longer hours. After all, they aren’t forced with a gun in their head to work. End of the day, the parents can decide if they can work or not.
I was a teenager once, and back when I was 16-17 I wished I can work longer hours.
Carol says
Let’s just reverse all the advances we have made over the years! Open the sweat shops, close the schools, end medical research, amp up coal mining – we can be a third world country in no time!
Kat says
I bet you not one of those lawmakers has a teenager working to help sustain the families basic needs. If any of those lawmakers kids have a job, it’s probably to try and teach them some responsibility or pay for luxuries.
I guess we need the poor kids to work more hours to pick the crops. We’re seeing articles now about how farmers in Florida don’t have workers to bring in the harvest because of our anti-immigrant governor and legislature, so is this their solution?
TREEMAN says
During my Jr and Sr years in High School I worked 40 hrs a week (4 hrs-Mon to Fri, 12 hrs on Sat and 8 hrs on Sun). Paid for my used car and insurance plus saved for college. This prepared me to work my way thru college (NO college loans or grants)! The new law must give the student an option to work more than 30 hrs and employers can NOT demand that student work more than 30 hrs.
Nancy N. says
Let me take a wild guess what comes next…work requirements for 16 and 17 year olds to receive state benefits. Because heaven forbid kids should be able to focus on their education. The GOP is really ALL about preserving the underclass of workers for their oligarchs to exploit. Everything they’ve done in the name of “protecting kids” all goes back to that goal.
TR says
I don’t see a problem with letting any young kid work 30+ hours as long as they keep their grades up in school. I did it back in the day when I was in high school. worked 35 to 40+ hours a week and graduated with a B+ average. That was surprising to me being I didn’t want to be in school in the first place. LOL But if a 16+ year old (these days) wants to work and is ambitious and keeps their grades up, then I definitely say let them. It’s better than sitting home after school on the computer or sitting on the couch doing nothing. Earning money for what they want to buy gives them self esteem and gratification that they earned the money to buy what they want.
Atwp says
Anti immigration policies, less immigrants to work. Decrease child labor laws, cheap labor no benefits. Am sure big employers are pouring money in to pass this law. We will see what happens. A teenager working is good. 30 hours and full time school might be a little much. Parents teaching their working children good financial skills will be great. The money the students earn will go a long way if used properly. Better kids earning money by work than go to jail for stealing and selling drugs.
Ray W. says
I see we have another wanderer who is fooling himself.
When Trump signed into law the first $2.9 trillion in stimulus funds, after Congress passed two separate bills in 2020, quickly followed by Biden signing into law another $3 trillion in stimulus funds, the artificially heat created by the large infusion of printed money into the American economy was bound to create a bout with inflation. The best phrase to use is Trudenflation. Bidenflation is at best a partially accurate term.
If Mtn. Man doesn’t care enough to check this out for himself, then he is making himself uneducable. Once he learns that the Trump administration pumped trillions into the American economy, he will no longer be able to support his argument. He can start by asking whether stimulus money is purposely designed to stimulate, or heat, a cooling economy. An artificially heated economy commonly instigates inflation, which usually instigates job losses, and a recession. Thus far, the American economy has avoided job losses, and recession, and appears to be heading toward a “soft” landing. If this actually comes to pass, this will be first time in my lifetime (10 recessions) that we have achieved a soft landing after bouts with inflation.
Please become a rocket scientist. It would be better for you if you did. Choosing the life of an uneducable person does you no favors.
TR says
Can you provide proof of what you say “We’re seeing” articles about farmers complaining not having workers to bring in the crops. I haven’t seen one single article about what your claiming. Oh and just so you know crops are harvested by machinery as far as I know.
TR says
the word I want to use to describe your comment will most likely not allow my comment to be posted, so i will tell you this. I worked a lot more than 30 hours while in high school back in the late 70’s and it didn’t effect my school glasses at all. Graduated with a B+ average and today own my own business here in Florida going for the past 34 years. So it can be done if the child has the drive, ambition and mind set to succeed in life in whatever field they pursue. Besides do you really think that a 16 year old that gets a pay check will help pay the household bills? They will most likely spend it on what they want, or possible put some away for the future, or save to get their own place when they are ready to move out on their own.
I hope that if your wish comes true for the state of Florida, you will already have enough money saved so you can move before the state floats away. LOL
Ed P says
Take a deep breath. Floridas current labor law already allows a 16-17 year old to work beyond the 30 hour work week when school is not in session.
Keep in mind that even though Florida law does not mandate a benefit package for a full time employee(32-40 hours/week) some business do offer benefits as a retention bonus. Therefore, these employers will think twice about extending the hours on a cost/benefit basis.
More importantly….
Why would we not believe that the parents and child are capable of making their own decision on working hours?
dave says
So, out with the grades and in with the working more hours. Which comes first, education or working more than your allocated time. I say, if your grades are supportive and your school activities are in line. Sure make a few extra dollars. I remember way back when I would come home from school, complete my homework and go out a mow grass for a few bucks. In the end it’s a decision of the parents.
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Angela, you echo my thoughts exactly. We will no longer have a middle class; our country is going – swimming – down the tubes and so many of us are blind to our 3 class system being destroyed.
James says
Thanks Pogo.
I had no idea they use radioactive phosphogypsum in road tar… I guess we have a choice, buy bottled water and eventually die of nano plastic poisoning or drink water from the tap in a glass and die from radioactive phosphogypsum contamination.
Neither sound too pleasant a way out. But it does make one wonder which might be quicker.
Btw, the name “Chaney” sounds familiar… this being Florida should I need to look?
Just a few more observations.
CJ says
This is Florida, no rich kids will be picking cabbages, the Florida Farmers are in trouble because of Florida’s policies and treatment of migrant workers, who possess proper immigrant worker permits by the way, and now want to recruit your kids. Will the Governor’s kids be out there in the fields? Wake up Florida!
p.s. Any kid who is ambitious will find a way to make some extra money as we all did. Current laws do not quell this ambition. Florida is trying to exploit this ambition by bringing it under its legal system…do NOT think it will favor or PROTECT your child in any way. It is part of a design to take dangerous jobs out of control of labor law and put low wage earners in those jobs. WHO BENEFITS?
MeToo says
On many counts I disagree with you. Were you working all those hours legally?
There will be time enough for teenagers to work fulltime.
Mary Fusco says
Angela, I guess my children were underserved. All 4 of them worked after school and weekends for spending money during high school. They also worked while in college and graduated with 4.0 averages. One of my daughters was in nursing school. Went to school during the day and worked as an aid at the local hospital in the evenings and weekends. She started out at McDonalds in high school. She was just offered a Director of Nursing position. What all of my children learned from working low wage jobs was that they didn’t want to do it for the rest of their life. No one has to stay at anything for a lifetime unless it works best for them. Work is the real world. Staring at a phone 12 hours a day is a fantasy world. This where we are failing our children.
Ray W. says
Actually, TR, I have repeatedly commented about an article originally published in the Tallahassee Democrat. An owner of a tomato packing plant in the panhandle was interviewed about the difficulty of finding workers to pack the tomatoes grown by the family-owned farmland. He stated that many of the families that had previously staffed the packing plant had left the state after the effective date of a statute that made it a crime to drive in Florida with an undocumented immigrant in the vehicle. The owner identified as a long-time Republican, but he had his doubts about the law, after having to raise wages to $30 per hour to attract workers to pack the tomatoes. The gist of the article was that immigrant families lived in communal compounds. Often, most of the family consisted of legal immigrants. But, they were all leaving in order to protect the few that were undocumented. They lived as a family; they worked as a family; and they moved to other states as a family. Georgia farmers need pickers, too.
No, not all crops are harvested by machinery, but inroads are happening. In time, perhaps.
The Times ran an article about the employee drain. A framing subcontractor for a large central Florida builder told the reporter that he had lost half of his forty employees since the law passed. A roofing contractor based in Jacksonville had an out-of-state subcontractor turn down a roofing job that, after the subcontractor’s employees refused to travel to Florida, even though the workers were legal immigrants. The Jacksonville roofer told the Times he had already raised his wages by 10% to attract workers. A Republican state congressman, and farmer, prior to the law taking effect, had asked local Hispanic ministers to meet with him; he wanted them to convince local farmworkers, including his farmworkers, to stay, stating that he was already losing workers. A recording of his request had gone viral. The congressman was quoted as saying people were already leaving the state. An estimated 770,oo0 undocumented immigrants work in Florida’s agricultural and hospitality industries.
NPR ran a story about the new law, quoting immigrants who worked in a flea and farmer’s market. Business was off by a significant percentage, as too many people had left the community served by the market.
I have to wonder exactly what your motives are when you consistently post inaccurate comments. It was easy for me to look up the Times and NPR articles. Apparently, you possess a superior belief in the truth of whatever it is that you intend to claim, a belief that keeps you from actually checking on whether you are accurate in your beliefs. Please become a rocket scientist. Please follow reason to whatever end it takes you. Do not contort reason to fit whatever it is that you want it to be. Look it up.
Just how wrong do you have to be before you will question what you believe? Skepticism is at the heart of the scientific method. Try it on yourself before you type anything.
Ari says
Florida under DeSantis is like living in a 3rd world country. He is continuig to take rights away from adults and doesn’t seem to care about young children now thinking they can work long hours taking away from learning in school He took away their right to read books, and just seems to want them to work long hours,forget about learning. Oh that’s right he doesn’t want them to learn about what really happened to the slaves.
It was ok that he went to an ivy league college but he doesn’t want anyone else to be educated.
He is another Cult Republican that you can bet in a few weeks will be kissing Donalds feet for a job.
oldtimer says
Easy people, it says allow not force. take a deep breath and calm down.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Congratulations for working all of those hours back in the late 70s. The 70’s ended 44 years ago, and so did any applicable knowledge you have about what Kids These Days have to deal with, what their home lives look like, and what their futures look like.
Nancy N. says
Speaking as a Gen-X parent, school is not the same today as it was when I was in school. The average high school student today has between 2-3 hours of homework to complete every day. Add to that, if you want to get into a decent 4 year college, the necessity of taking part in all sorts of extracurricular and community service activities. It’s simply not sustainable for kids looking to excel academically, take advanced classes and go to good colleges to work almost full time. But then again…that’s the point, isn’t it? To divide kids into the haves and have nots, and keep them there?
Nancy N. says
I’m sure you wished for a lot of things when you were a teenager. But not all of them would have been good for you, and that is why there were parental restrictions, and laws like child labor laws to protect you from teenage hubris.
Mary Fusco says
Carol, working after school or on the weekends is not a sweat shop. All of my children worked while in high school and college. They are all very successful as are their grown children who also worked. My granddaughter who is 25 has a masters in speech pathology and had $20,000 saved from working in high school before even going to college, By the time a young person is in high school they should be getting prepared for the real world and that consists of working. Staring at a phone worrying about who is doing what and tik tok are not the real world. Sadly this is why parents have 40 year olds sitting on their couch that cannot work because someone looked at them funny.
TR says
To answer your question, YES! The problem I see with your comment is that there are probably a bunch of teenagers who want to work more hours but they can not because of the rules. This is holding them back from getting enough money to buy what they want (which is possibly a car) because the parents don’t have any extra money to dish out for a car. In my situation, I’m a twin and my parents couldn’t buy one car let alone two at one time. My brother and I couldn’t share because of the schedules we had with school and working in two different places. So we had to work to save our own money to buy our own cars. My parents did help with the first payment on the insurance but after that we were on our own. Delaying a teenagers right to work longer then allowed is just another way of holding them back and teaching them that if they don’t have enough money to buy something then ask for assistance. Whether it be from someone else or the government. This also can lead them to think they are entitled to get the help because mom and dad can’t afford to help them. Oh wait that’s where we are now with a lot of the teenagers. The other thing it might teach them is if you can’t afford to buy something, but you really want it, they will steal it.
Sherry says
Right On Nancy! Here we have the usual suspects who still “judge” those that are not exactly like them. . . also who see the world as it was 50 years ago. Your last lines tell it all!
Fascism thrives in the minds of the ignorant.
Sherry says
Thank You Ray W! I must confess that I actually laughed out loud when you mentioned NPR . The line saying “Just how wrong do you have to be before you will question what you believe?” is simply priceless! The trouble is. . . those who are so indoctrinated into mindless the FOX/Newsmax reality would never consider that they could possibly be wrong about anything.
Ray W. says
There is a form of circular reasoning that infects various state attorney offices. It goes like this: Good guys don’t make mistakes. Prosecutors are the good guys. I am a prosecutor. Therefore, I don’t make mistakes.
Mona says
Very good response. I agree with everything what you said. And now about a different subject. Did Desantos family get vaccinated? He was so proud of anti vaccine achievements. Bad governor, that’s all.
jake says
The only person who can “exploit” these children are their parents.
jake says
Really, I guess none of that generation had children, or grandchildren.
Ray W. says
Hello TR,
After I posted my first reply to your comment, CBS News posted a new article about people leaving the state. A Jacksonville-based roofing company owner was interviewed. He stated that his normal number of work crews had been reduced by half since the passage of the new statute.
To me, the most important part of the article was this quote by the owner of the roofing company:
“I am not a fan of open borders. … But I am a fan of putting people to work in this community who are contributing to this community. There’s got to be a way to get them into this system where they get paid a fair wage, and they pay their fair taxes, and everybody gets back to work.”
Once again, the most recent JOLTS report puts the number of posted job openings across America at just under 9 million workers wanted. There are roughly 6.3 million unemployed workers. The ideal number of posted job openings should be between 6.3 million and 7.5 million, per economists (1.0 to 1.2 posted openings per unemployed worker). We need more workers all across this country. Congress can fix this problem by enacting a bipartisan legislative bill. A somewhat recent executive order authorized work eligibility for hundreds of thousands of undocumented Venezuelan immigrants, but only if they had entered the country before a certain date. I don’t know if this order had anything to do with the recent drop in posted job openings, but the number has been going down in recent months; it dipped below 9 million for the first time in a long time. It was over 12 million openings within the last 12 months.
Tony Mack says
The one I always liked is: God is Love, Love is blind, Ray Charles is blind ergo — Ray Charles is God!
Sherry says
@ Ray W. Never heard that one before, but it explains so much about that “circular” mindset.
It also could help to explain why (with the new DNA processes for evidence) we are seeing so many stories about “innocent” people being released from prison. The wealthy/middle class who can afford a decent defense attorney have a much better chance of receiving true justice than the underprivileged.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Seems like that’s a decision that they can come to on their own, after they graduate from high school. You’re what, 70? Even as a grandparent you’ve got no clue what kids deal with today.