New laws in Florida, the US state, will allow children as young as fourteen to work overnight shifts.
On Tuesday, the state legislature advanced Senate Bill 918 that would loosen child labor laws and allow teenagers to work night shifts during school days. The state law prohibits teenagers from working before 6.30am and after 11:00pm.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in favor of the change and he attributed it to the loss migrant workers as a result of the nationwide crackdown on undocumented labor.
DeSantis stated in a panel with Tom Homan, a senior US official who performs the duties of director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that “yes, there were people who left because of these rules, but we’ve been able hire other people.” What’s wrong with expecting young people to work part-time?
He said: “Why are we saying we need to import illegally imported foreigners when teenagers used work in these resorts?” Students in college should be able do this.
Florida’s new child labour laws will also eliminate guaranteed meal breaks for workers aged 16 and 17. They will also relax the restrictions on working hours of teenagers aged 14-15 who are home-schooled.
The bill was passed by the Commerce and Tourism Committee of the Florida Senate on Tuesday (25th March). It will now face two additional committee votes before it is voted upon by the entire Florida senate.
In recent years, several states have relaxed their child labour laws. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in 2023 signed a law that would make it easier for businesses to hire children with no parental consent.
Homan’s ICE arrested 370 “undocumented immigrants” in Boston last week. He admitted that many of them were “collateral” arrests and not guilty of any crimes. He told Fox News the “majority” of these people were criminals. You know, we had a lot of collateral arrests. “And I’ve already said that collateral arrests will be people who aren’t criminals, but are found while we are looking for the criminal. They’ll be taken into custody.”
Personnel Today has the latest HR job openings.
Subscribe to our weekly HR news and guidance
Every Wednesday, receive the Personnel Today Direct newsletter.
Find more Human Resources Jobs
