Sponsored by Republican State Rep. Linda Chaney, the bill (HB 49) was advanced during its first of three committee stops by a 10–5 vote along party lines, with Democrats opposed.
Six amendments proposed by Democrats, including language requiring businesses that employ 16- and 17-year-olds to maintain a record of workplace sexual harassment incidents and provide that to their parents, were shot down by the subcommittee’s Republican majority.
Backed by industry groups representing restaurant and hotel owners, the proposed bill would get rid of state guidelines on when 16- and 17-year-olds can work and would limit local governments’ ability to enact stronger regulations in their communities.
The bill, for instance, would make it legal for employers to put older teens to work on overnight shifts, even if they have school the next day.Currently, under Florida law, it’s illegal for employers to work minors under 18 more than 30 hours a week during the school year, put them to work during school hours, put them to work overnight (between 11 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.) or schedule older teens to work more than six days in a row.
There are exceptions to this, including students enrolled in public school career and technical education programs, minors who are or have been married, and minors employed in homes (think babysitting) or employed by their parents. Waivers can also be requested.The Republican-backed bill, fed to Rep. Linda Chaney by the right-wing Foundation for Government Accountability — a think tank that wrote the bill — would gut the state's current restrictions on child labor for older teens, which were originally established to prevent work from interfering with a child’s health, safety and education.
Chaney defended her legislation in front of the House Regulatory and Economic Development subcommittee by arguing it would increase “work flexibility” for older teens and create “opportunity and choice.”
“They want to work,” said Chaney, who claimed that “many” 16- and 17-year-olds had come to her in support of her proposal. “This bill gets government out of their way to choose the path that is best for them.”State law already allows teens 14 and older to work jobs that aren’t defined as “hazardous” under state law. Those currently prohibited hazardous jobs include jobs in industries like mining, meatpacking, roofing and scaffolding above six feet — the last of which another Republican is similarly trying to legalize for older teens at the behest of deep-pocketed trade groups.
But Chaney and industry groups like the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association — a state affiliate of the anti-union National Restaurant Association, representing industry giants like McDonald's (a repeat violator of child labor law), Olive Garden, the Walt Disney Co., Universal Orlando and other restaurant and hotel owners that employ a large percentage of the youth workforce — say that current restrictions on allowed work hours for older teens are burdensome and restrict older teens’ “freedom” to work.“We believe the intent [of the bill] is not to erode the importance of education, but to reduce unnecessary and restrictive regulation, expand available staffing, and grow financial and career development opportunities for young Floridians,” FRLA representative Samantha Padgett, speaking on behalf of the trade group’s 10,000 members across the state, told lawmakers.
A spokesperson for the FRLA previously told Orlando Weekly that their support for the bill is also driven by a labor shortage in the hospitality industry, which is predominantly low-wage and therefore not the most enticing option for workers struggling to make ends meet for themselves or their families.State Democrats on the subcommittee weren't buying it, and strongly criticized the proposed legislation. Some questioned whether it’s appropriate to bring forward at a time when child labor violations in Florida — and nationwide — are on the rise.
Democratic lawmakers shared concerns about the idea of employers exploiting youth for profit, and a lack of enforcement capacity to ensure that child labor regulations are followed.From 2019 to 2022, child labor violations identified by the U.S Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division in Florida tripled, from 95 in 2019 to 281 in 2022, according to data analyzed by the Florida Policy Institute (an opponent of the bill).
Employers in Florida — including a chain of skating rinks, a trampoline park, a Tampa-area Tropical Smoothie Cafe and a roofing contractor in Orlando — have collectively been fined more than $100,000 by the department over child labor violations this year alone.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour division, however, can only enforce federal child labor protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which has weaker standards for minors above age 15 than current Florida law.
Policy analyst Nina Mast with the Economic Policy Institute told Orlando Weekly that the federal law should be the bare minimum when it comes to child labor protections, but that states should aim to exceed that (and many, including Florida, have).
Within the state, only the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation is empowered to enforce the state’s child labor laws, although the state agency is underfunded and tasked with various responsibilities beyond labor regulation.
A spokesperson for the agency confirmed in an email to Orlando Weekly that there are just seven personnel to enforce child labor law in the state of Florida.
That means there are just seven people tasked with ensuring the tens of thousands of 16- and 17-year-olds who participate in Florida’s workforce are adequately protected from being put to work for extended hours, from dangerous work, or from losing out on 30-minute meal breaks mandated under law for youth.
There are more career specialists in Orange County's public K-12 school system alone (22) than there are state employees statewide dedicated to, well, protecting the children — personnel dedicated to investigating complaints of violations the DBPR receives and either bringing employers into compliance, or fining them up to $2,500 per offense as permitted under state law.
“This bill is not about children,” Chaney said. “This bill is about 16- and 17-year-olds. These are youth workers that are driving automobiles. They are not children.”
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When questioned about the state’s enforcement capacity by Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani, Chaney however largely avoided answering directly, sharing that anyone with child labor complaints can report those to the DBPR — which doesn’t have clear reporting guidelines on its website.
Democrats offered a number of proposed amendments to Chaney’s bill, as a way to soften the blow in the event of its passage. Rep. Angie Nixon, a mother of five children — including a 16-year-old — tried to add language establishing a state department of labor to help enforce child labor law.
Florida lawmakers dissolved the state department of labor in 2002, and with it, a meaningful mechanism for cracking down on Florida’s widespread problem of wage theft.
“I'm really concerned because wage theft is a major issue across our state, and Rep. Chaney just stated that a lot of the jobs that teens are trying to go after are in the hospitality industries,” said Nixon. “And, surprise! That’s where a lot of the wage theft is happening.”
She’s not wrong. Nixon, a former community organizer from the Jacksonville area, has proposed legislation in the past to establish a state department of labor, but it’s never been able to garner much interest from Republicans, who have a supermajority in the state legislature. It's never even reached a vote.
Her amendment, unsurprisingly, was shot down by the Republican-dominated subcommittee. Another amendment Nixon offered up for the child labor bill would have required businesses that employ 16- to 17-year-old children to maintain a record of workplace sexual harassment incidents and provide such reports to the teens’ parents upon hiring.
“I don’t know why anyone would not vote to ensure, again, that our children are safe and in a work environment that is free from sexual predators,” said Nixon.
“You know, we talk a lot about parental rights here in Tallahassee and this is key,” she said, referring to a talking point frequently brought up by Florida Republicans earlier this year in defense of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
That amendment was shot down too. (Apparently the "Protect the children" rhetoric stops when it comes to kids who are on the clock.)
Republicans altogether shot down six proposed amendments from Democratic Reps. Angie Nixon and Anna Eskamani, who made the argument that if older teens are mature enough to work, they should also be able to choose whether to have an abortion without parental consent.
Her Republican colleagues weren’t convinced.
But Florida isn't the only state where such a proposal is being brought to lawmakers.
Florida is the 16th state so far over the last couple of years to consider proposals to roll back child labor laws, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
At least six have passed in states like Iowa and Arkansas,with the backing of industry groups for restaurant owners, homebuilders and hospitality employers, as well as conservative think tanks like the Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability, a driving force behind many of these proposals.
Emails obtained by More Perfect Union through a public records request, shared with Orlando Weekly, show that the Foundation for Government Accountability drafted the child labor bill that Chaney later filed with only minor edits, and later fed her a list of talking points when critics started to raise concerns.
These communications were not brought up during Wednesday’s meeting.
State policy analyst Mast of the Economic Policy Institute told Orlando Weekly there’s been a “coordinated, multi-state effort led by business lobbying groups and right-wing advocacy groups to weaken state laws that govern current labor protections.”
Many of the groups pushing for these rollbacks are repeat violators of labor laws, Mast added. “These are employers that are already illegally misclassifying workers [and] violating other labor standards like overtime protections,” she said.
During public testimony on the bill, which was limited to one minute per person, only two people spoke in support of the proposal — a representative of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and a teenager who echoed Chaney’s argument that child labor law is too restrictive as is.
“Currently, I can only work 30 hours a week, and within those 30 hours every four hours you have to get a 30-minute mandated break,” said 16-year-old Logan Shwenberger, who said he worked at a martial arts academy. “This causes a problem when looking for jobs, especially in the restaurant industry.”
Why he focused on the restaurant industry, as someone who does not work in a restaurant, was unclear. Logan was followed directly by 18-year-old Christopher Tingle, an opponent of the bill.
“I did not know as a minor how to report workplace violations. Minors don't know how to do that. They don't know the law,” said Tingle, who said he's worked since age 15.
Chaney had mentioned that it’s employees’ responsibility to report child labor violations, which didn't sit well with some. Not when it comes to teens who are less likely to speak up when their boss is treating them inappropriately, or failing to pay them what they're lawfully owed.
Tingle said teens with a social life, school, and other things on their minds aren’t going to care about “some legal document”that details their rights in the workplace.
“So yes, we have these laws, but they don't matter if they can't be enforced.”
Karen Woodall, with the Florida Center for Fiscal & Economic Policy, said she was old enough to remember when the state had a department of labor and felt uneasy with the proposal. “I actually worked on efforts to strengthen our child labor law to be stronger than the federal government. And with all due respect, this is kind of going backwards.”
Rich Templin, lobbyist for the Florida AFL-CIO — representing hundreds of labor unions across the state, and their members — urged lawmakers to reject the bill. “Don’t make the kids do it. Let kids be kids.”
But Chaney, who claimed with a chuckle that she thought her bill would be “noncontroversial and bipartisan,” rebuked critics who characterized her bill as a “child labor bill.”
“This bill is not about children,” Chaney said. “This bill is about 16- and 17-year-olds. These are youth workers that are driving automobiles. They are not children.”
The bill still has to be heard and approved by another committee and subcommittee. If that happens, the bill will then be cleared to head to the full Florida House. A companion bill has not yet been filed in the state Senate, however, and matching language needs to be approved by both chambers to be signed into law.
While committee meetings have already begun, the legislative session doesn't officially kick off until Jan. 9, 2024.
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