- Wisconsin’s Senate approved a bill that will allow 14 and 15-year-olds to work until 11 p.m. – much later than current State laws permit.
- Supporters of the bill say it could help plug the state’s labor shortage because the current legislation meant some businesses closed early due to their young staff’s inability to work late at night.
- Some businesses across the US have tapped into very young workers, like a McDonald’s in Oregon that has actively recruited 14-year-olds.
Grace Dean from Yahoo! writes:
“Wisconsin’s Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that would allow 14 and 15-year-olds to work until 11 p.m. on some days – much later than current laws allow.
Supporters of the bill say it could help plug the state’s labor shortage.
Wisconsin currently sticks to federal child-labor laws, which stipulate that people under the age of 16 can only work between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. from June 1 to Labor Day, and between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. for the rest of the year.
The proposed bill would allow this group to instead work from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on days before a school day, and 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. when the next day isn’t a school day.
It has now been sent to the Wisconsin Assembly for approval.
The bill would keep in place federal rules limiting teens to three hours of work on a school day, eight hours on non-school days, and six days of work a week.
It wouldn’t cover businesses that have annual revenues of more than $500,000 or workers involved in interstate commerce, who are instead covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)…”
See full story here.
Categories: Business, Government, Labor, Politics
Economic Left 
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