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Florida legislators are currently considering a bill that would considerably make child labor protections, with the aim of facilitating employers’ hiring for the roles previously filled with undocumented immigrants.
Senate bill 918 would allow companies to hire teenagers To work more time. He went through a senatorial committee of the state earlier this week, and if he was elected in the law, children as young as 14 would be authorized to work in the night quarters, even on school days. Certain work restrictions are said to be deleted for minors over the age of 16, including the prohibitions to work for more than eight hours a day and more than 30 hours per week. And companies will no longer be required to provide minors over the age of 16 with a meal break of 30 minutes.
The proposal also removes employment restrictions for children at home, those who frequent the virtual school or those who are minor but who have obtained a secondary school diploma or have obtained an equivalent diploma.
“Many jobs in agriculture and tourism in Florida are occupied by people who have either special visas or who are illegally employed, and they lose their jobs due to the stricter application of the existing immigration law,” explains Stefanie Camfield, lawyer as well as associated general advice and RR human services, a company based in Fort Lauderdale part. “Employers will find it difficult to understand how to fill these spots.”
The bill has not yet been voted by the Florida Legislative Assembly, but if it is adopted, it will almost certainly be signed by Governor Ron Desantis, who has already done his support clear. “Why do we say that we have to import foreigners, even to import them illegally, when you know, adolescents worked in these stations, students should be able to do this kind of thing,” said Desantis last week at a round table first reported by Tampa Bay Times.
It is not the only one Invoice Presented this year in Florida, focused on the employment of minors. A separate and even more controversial proposal would allow companies to pay workers less than the minimum wage if they “accelerate” and include minors if their parents were leaning. But Camfield says that this bill will be almost certainly disputed and is less likely to pass.
Several states have removed the work restrictions for adolescents in recent years. Since 2023, three states have returned laws obliging minors to obtain work permits for young people, including Iowa, Arkansas and Alabama research of the Institute of Economic Policy. In 2024, Kentucky legislators voted on a bill To increase the total number of hours, 16 and 17 can work per day and per week. And at the beginning of this year, Indiana adopted This allows minors over the age of 16 to work as many hours as they wish and even delete parental authorization which was previously necessary for them to do it.
Brit Morse
Brit.morse@fortune.com
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
