2024 Session: Florida House passes bill that allows teens to work over 40 hours a week
Sixteen- and 17-year-olds in Florida are another step closer to being able to work more than 40 hours during the school week.
The Florida House Thursday passed a Republican-backed bill on a 80-35 vote that Democrats said would let employers exploit working teens. Not so, said the legislation's main backer.
"This bill is about choice and opportunity for families," said bill sponsor Linda Chaney, R-St. Pete Beach. "I trust that our families and that our teens will make the right choice for them in their own individual situation." The legislation still must pass the state Senate before it can be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Critics are calling the bill, entitled "Employment and Curfew of Minors" (HB 49), a "child labor" bill, saying it would walk back decades of laws protecting children and preventing them from working overly long hours.
The legislation would allow 16- and 17-year-old children to work more than 40 hours a week and would allow homeschooled and virtual school teens to work during the school day. It also bars municipalities from enacting curfews that would conflict with the bill and allows teens to work more than eight hours a day between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.
A provision that would have allowed teens to work overnight was taken out early in the process, which House Speaker Paul Renner later Thursday said was a legitimate concern of the original bill.
"We don't want kids working overnight, and that type of thing," the Palm Coast Republican told reporters. "(We want) to make sure that we give kids an opportunity, but it's an opportunity that's appropriate, especially if they're in school."
On the House floor, Chaney said other states that have adopted similar legislation have not experienced adverse effects, and businesses have an incentive to treat employees fairly because of the competitive market.
"The employee is in the driver's seat. I reject the premise that a 16- and 17-year-old is not capable of understanding that," Chaney said. "They communicate with each other, they're going to gravitate to the employers that treat them the way they want to be treated."
But Democrats criticized a provision in the bill that says, "Minors 16 and 17 years of age may be employed, permitted, or suffered to work the same number of hours as a person who is 18 years of age or older," and argued both federal and existing state law do not require employers to give breaks during the work day.
An amendment by Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, would have required employers to give 16- and 17-year-olds a break every five hours. It failed. In fact, all 10 amendments offered by Democrats that they say would have strengthened protections for teen workers were voted down.
"Here we are, opening up the possibility that children will be exploited as cheap labor. They deserve so much more," said Rita Harris, D-Orlando. "I had an amendment that will protect them from deadly heat exposure, and yet it was voted down. ... Let's keep our kids, kids."
More: GOP seeks to roll back child labor laws, let employers work kids longer. What is HB 49?
Chaney's measure heads to the Senate, where a comparable bill, "Employment of Minors" (SB 1596), by Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, limits the hours 16- and 17-year-old children are allowed to work to 30 a week.
The House bill – similar to other relaxed child labor laws passed in Arkansas, Iowa, New Jersey and New Hampshire in the last year – has been promoted by a conservative Naples-based think tank and lobbying group, The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), according to the Washington Post.
Public records obtained by media site and activist group More Perfect Union show FGA representatives providing Chaney's office with the text of the bill three weeks before she filed a "nearly verbatim" version and following up with talking points to counteract any backlash.
Her bill also replaces the word “shall” with “may” in several provisions on when children 15 and younger can work, which could create a legal gray area surrounding the law’s interpretation.
The U.S. Department of Labor found a 14% increase in child labor violations in 2023. The same year, 5,800 children were illegally employed, an 88% increase since 2019.
The Florida Legislature is considering other labor bills involving children this year, including one that originally would have made it legal for 17- and 16-year-old children to work as roofers.
That bill was walked back, and the language was softened by its sponsor, Republican Sen. Corey Simon of Quincy, with an amendment that limits teens to residential construction projects lower than 6 feet.
Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Bill that lets teens work over 40 hours a week passes Florida House
