A bill that would allow Ohio teenagers 14 and 15 years old to work till 9 p.m. throughout the year is heading to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk, though federal law still stands in the way.
Ohio Senate Bill 50 recently passed the Ohio House after the Ohio Senate passed the bill in April with a party line vote. DeWine has not received the bill as of Wednesday morning, his spokesperson Dan Tierney said. Once DeWine gets the bill, he will have 10 days to sign the bill into law or veto it. If he vetoes the bill, lawmakers would need a three-fifths vote from each chamber to override it.
Ohio law currently allows 14 and 15 year olds to work till 9 p.m. during the summer or during a school holiday, meaning they are not able to work past 7 p.m. during the school year on school nights. However, Ohio is unable to change the law without the federal government making changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Ohio lawmakers also recently passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, which urges Congress to alter the Fair Labor Standards Act to let a teenager younger than 16 work between 7-9 p.m. during the school year if the teen has their parent or guardian’s permission.
Ohio Sen. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, introduced both Senate Bill 50 and the Senate Resolution earlier this year, which says 14 and 15 year olds would need approval from a parent or guardian to work until 9 p.m.
“Give 14 and 15 year olds another opportunity to stay an extra hour to work at a grocery store bagging groceries or even to make an extra buck,” Ohio state Rep. Mark Johnson, R-Chillicothe, said during a recent Ohio House session. “I find that there’s not a thing wrong with learning how to work at a young age.”
Johnson shared how he delivered newspapers and worked on a vegetable farm when he was growing up. He said he got a job working at Waffle House his senior year of high school and became the assistant manager before he was 19.
“I learned how to work and be productive at a young age,” he said. “None of that hurt me one bit.”
State Rep. Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown, was shocked her fellow lawmakers were in favor of passing the bill.
“How dare we pretend that putting 14-year-olds on late-night shifts, in dangerous workplaces, is somehow helping families?” she said. “It’s not helping anyone. It’s exploitation, plain and simple.”
She argued teenagers cannot fill Ohio’s most in-demand jobs, which include nurses, home health aides and truck drivers.
“It’s not about filling workforce gaps,” McNally said. “It’s about filling corporate pockets. … The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was our promise to America’s children: You deserve a childhood. You deserve an education. You deserve safety. Now you want to tear that promise apart for profit.”
Ohio businesses can pay 14 and 15 year olds the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which is less than the state’s minimum wage of $10.70 per hour, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
“We’ve created a system where families are forced to rely on their kids’ wages just to survive, and instead of fixing that by paying adults a living wage by supporting affordable child care, we’re about to hand corporations a new generation of underpaid, overworked, under-protected employees, and shame on us if we let that happen,” McNally said.
Ohio House Democrats Chris Glassburn and Daniel Troy voted for the bill and the Senate Resolution, while Ohio House Republicans Jason Stephens and Scott Oelslager voted against them both.
The Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance spoke in favor of the bill earlier this year during committee, while the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio opposes the bill.
This story was originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal and republished here with permission.