Florida bill rolling back child labor protections advances; critics say it’s unnecessary

A Florida bill that would roll back certain child labor protections in the state for minors as young as 14 was advanced by a panel of Florida state representatives Thursday, despite concerns from some that the Legislature is looking to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

If passed, the bill (HB 1225) would get rid of restrictions for the number of hours that teenagers aged 16 and older can work per week during the school year, plus do the same for teens as young as 14 who are home-schooled, enrolled in virtual school, or recipients of a high school diploma. A provision allowing 13-year-olds to work during the summer of the year they turn 14 was quietly cut out of the bill Thursday by the bill sponsor following public backlash.

“The problem sounds like we need flexibility for our 16- and 17-year-olds and other kids to be able to work more if it’s good for their lives, or get more experience in the workplace,” said Dr. Rich Templin, with the Florida AFL-CIO, during public testimony.

“I have a solution,” he told House lawmakers, after a beat. “You don’t need to hear this bill anymore today. The solution already exists.”

Templin, speaking on behalf of the state’s largest federation of labor unions, was referring specifically to Florida’s child labor waiver system, overseen by the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Since Florida Gov. Jeb Bush dismantled the state department of labor in 2002, the DBPR has been the enforcing agency of Florida’s child labor laws. Under Florida law, the DBPR is authorized to grant waivers from certain child labor restrictions for minors by request.

A waiver can be requested to allow children aged 14 and older to work longer hours or to work in certain jobs during the school year (since laws are looser during the summer). Such waivers are granted by the department on a case-by-case basis based on the “best interest of the child,” according to the DBPR.

A spokesperson for the department previously told Orlando Weekly that the state granted 5,119 child labor waivers during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, running from July 1 through June 30 of the following year. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning with more recent data.

Florida already has a waiver system in place to allow for teens on a case-by-case basis to work more and longer hours.

Opponents of Florida HB 1225, including Templin, pointed out that teenagers are already allowed to join Florida’s workforce, provided they comply with federal hazardous work restrictions (which bar employers from putting kids to work in the mines, or on roofs, for example). According to data and work trends analyzed by the Florida Policy Institute, more than 100,000 teenagers are already in Florida’s workforce, with the state’s current child labor restrictions in place.

“This legislation is not necessary, not at all,” said Templin, “Unless you’re an unscrupulous employer who wants to tell a 16-year-old, ‘I need you to close the restaurant tonight,’ and that 16-year-old says, ‘No, I can’t, I’ve got an exam tomorrow.’ And that employer can say, ‘Well, if you don’t close the restaurant tonight, you’re fired.’”

“So if you’re looking out for kids and parents and flexibility,” Templin continued, “It’s done. Good job.”

This is the second year in a row that Florida lawmakers have taken up legislation aiming to weaken the state’s child labor laws, following a national trend of rollbacks supported by business groups and conservative think tanks. The Foundation for Government Accountability, a Naples-based think tank that has become a leading force behind child labor rollback efforts in other Republican-controlled states, drafted an early version of a bill last year specifically weakening work protections for teens aged 16 and older.

Public records obtained by Orlando Weekly last week show that the Governor’s office was directly advocating for additional rollbacks behind the scenes this year. The Governor’s office, which has a friendly working relationship with the Foundation for Government Accountability, drafted legislation that was later filed by Rep. Monique Miller and Sen. Jay Collins.

“Let’s call this what it is: another attempt to roll back basic protections for kids, driven not by any real policy need, but by corporate greed and the political agenda of Governor Ron DeSantis,” said Jackson Oberlink, legislative director for the progressive Florida for All, during public testimony in front of lawmakers Thursday morning.

DeSantis himself is currently in the hot seat for another story that’s garnered a slew of headlines, concerning his wife’s charity Hope Florida and its alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars to fund anti-marijuana and anti-abortion initiatives. DeSantis, however, reportedly claims it’s nothing more than a smear campaign by the “liberal media.”

Florida House speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican from Miami, previously said he had “personal concerns” about approving additional rollbacks to Florida’s child labor laws, although its bill sponsors claim they are only trying to align state law with federal law.

Florida’s child labor restrictions are currently somewhat stronger than federal regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, due to the advocacy of Floridians who advocated for additional protections decades ago.

“I don’t think that we have a landscape right now where children do not have the opportunity to find a job and have employment, whether it’s just for pocket money or whether it’s in their field of interest,” said Rep. Kelly Skidmore, who voted down the proposal. “Those opportunities exist, and this doesn’t change that. It creates an un-level playing field that gives the upper hand to those who would exploit our kids.”

Research has found that young workers are at greater risk of being exploited on the job. Young workers may be more vulnerable to sexual harassment, being pressured by an employer to work longer hours, and wage theft, or not being paid the full amount they’re owned. Florida lawmakers have repeatedly overlooked efforts to establish an agency dedicated in part to preventing wage theft or addressing workplace health and safety issues.

Skidmore, a Democrat from Boca Raton, said her first job was at a Kentucky Fried Chicken at age 15. Her siblings began working when they were teenagers, too. “We worked part time, and went to school, and it was a good part of our life,” she shared. Still, she added, “I will tell you that each one of my sisters and me were harassed. It was a long time ago, and we were very vulnerable as 15-year-old, 16-year old-girls in the workplace.”

Leydi Amadour, an organizer with Florida Student Power who’s worked various retail and restaurant jobs, similarly shared her own personal account of harassment on the job in front of a Senate panel last month. “They took advantage of me in every single space. And I did not tell my parents, because I wanted to provide for them,” Amadour said.

According to federal data analyzed by the Florida Policy Institute, child labor violations in Florida have trended upward since 2016, dropping from a peak high of 310 in 2022 to 209 in 2023 — the last year for which complete data is available.

Violations of Florida’s child labor laws, in contrast to federal law, are punishable by administrative fines of up to $2,500 — a fine that hasn’t been updated since 1993. Federal fines for child labor violations, on the other hand, can total up to $11,000 for each worker who is the subject of a child labor violation, or up to $50,000 when violations cause the death or serious injury of a child on the job.

Miller’s proposal, accused of seeking to fill immigrant labor shortages with children, passed the Florida House Education & Employment Committee Thursday in a 14 to 6 vote, mostly along party lines. Republican Susan Valdes joined Democrats in opposition, while Democrat Kimberly Daniels joined Republicans in support.

The bill (ironically approved just after a bill that seeks to protect children from “pornographic material” in schools) needs to clear one more committee stop before it can go to the full Florida House for a vote. The proposal needs majority support from both the House and Senate in order to pass, plus the approval of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Florida’s legislative session is scheduled to conclude May 2.

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This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2025.