One year ago, Governor Ron DeSantis found a way to loosen child labor laws in Florida. Fast forward to March 25, when the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee passed a bill sponsored by Jay Collins, R-Tampa, and it won with a 5-4 vote.
The bill will eliminate certain restrictions on child labor laws in Florida and it would allow employers to schedule any 16- and 17-year-old for unlimited hours and days without breaks during the school year. It would also allow employers to schedule 14- and 15-year-olds who have graduated high school or are home- or virtual-school students for unlimited hours and days without breaks.
Many Floridians have been on the fence about this bill being passed, and many feel it is unethical to have children working overnight shifts, no matter their situation.
Critics say it may harm the state’s education system. However, according to U.S. News and Report, Florida’s university system is ranked No. 1 in the United States. You must believe that this will hurt that.
Expecting 14- and 15-year-olds to work overnight shifts is a recipe for disaster, and critics of the bill says it’s downright irresponsible. Many kids aged 14-16 rely solely on bus transportation to get back and forth from school, so assuming they will have consistent transportation to a late-night job is very questionable. The bill’s opponents says children should be focused on learning, growing and simply being kids, not filling labor shortage gaps left by immigrants who were deported. This policy is out of touch and dangerous.
Furthermore, the early chapters of the House and Senate versions touch on the same technical backbone, conservation of extant child labor laws: restatement, clarification and revision. For instance, whereas the bill adds language about punishing violators of child labor laws, which is already written into law and does not represent a change. Both bills remove the existing language, exempting the Department of Labor from responsibility.
“The foregoing prohibitions during the pendency of such administrative or judicial proceedings,” according to the bill’s text.
This process was established before HB 49 added it to the legislation during the last session. These two bills are designed to amend the current statute.
A young person or an employer can apply for an hour and curfew to leave the public sphere. If he is home-schooled, undergoing private study, or in hardship due to illness or financial disaster, all are considered acceptable reasons for such a request. Right now, public school students apply to their local districts for this exemption, while all others under age 18 do so through the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
During a public event at New College of Florida, DeSantis defended the bill by saying, “I mean, like, that’s how it used to be when I was growing up. Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when, you know, teenagers used to work at these resorts? College students should be. All this stuff, it’s like you go $30,000, $40,000 in debt to take loans, but you’re not expected to work at all.”
But critics of the legislation say that taking off restrictions on child labor laws destroys everything the public knows about safety. Although this bill may help with the shortage in labor, it may also hurt the ones we love the most.