(The Hill) — Florida lawmakers are contemplating main adjustments to state youngster labor legal guidelines that will loosen restrictions on when and the way lengthy teenagers can work, because the state braces for a scarcity of migrant employees below GOP-led immigration crackdowns.
A state Senate panel narrowly advanced a proposal Tuesday to get rid of rules that bar 16- and 17-year-olds from working jobs earlier than 6:30 a.m. or after 11 p.m. on faculty days, working greater than eight hours on faculty days and dealing greater than 30 hours per week whereas in class. The proposal additionally would finish a requirement that teenagers obtain no less than 30-minute meal breaks after they work eight-hour shifts.
Moreover, it could get rid of some restrictions on using 14- and 15-year-olds who’re home-schooled or enrolled in digital colleges.
A separate measure advancing within the state Home would permit teenagers who’re employed as interns or trainees to be paid beneath the state’s $13-an-hour minimal wage, which is about to extend to $15-an-hour subsequent 12 months.
The Tallahassee Democrat reported that supporters of the adjustments say that the measures will give teenagers expertise and abilities that can assist them later in life.
Opponents argue that the payments promote youngster exploitation and will have an effect on their education.
Florida has been going through a steep scarcity of employees. According to figures from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are about 53 accessible employees for each 100 open jobs within the state.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, signed a law in 2023 aimed toward cracking down on immigration within the state by punishing employers who rent undocumented employees. Florida additionally prevents native governments from offering driver’s licenses to undocumented folks.
Opponents of the laws raised considerations in regards to the influence on the state’s main industries — together with tourism, agriculture and building — depend on immigrant labor.
Throughout a latest immigration-focused discussion with President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan on the New School of Florida in Sarasota, DeSantis provided up the concept of teenagers filling the gaps left by undocumented employees.
“They stated, ‘Oh, you realize, you are not going to have the ability to rent folks’ or no matter,” DeSantis stated. “What’s incorrect with anticipating, like, our younger folks to be working half time now? I imply, like, that is the way it was once after I was rising up.”
He particularly pointed to the sprawling resorts that dot the Florida coastlines as offering a money-making alternative for teenagers.
“Why do we are saying we have to import foreigners … when you realize youngsters used to work at these resorts?” he stated. “School college students ought to be. It is like, you go $30,000 in debt, you simply take loans, you are not anticipated to work in any respect. I feel the priorities have been jumbled, and I feel there’s completely folks that will be capable to do.”
A number of states, together with Arkansas and Iowa, have sought to roll again youth labor legal guidelines lately, citing workforce shortages.
