Ohio State Building. (Photo: David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal.)
A bill that would allow Ohio teenagers 14 and 15 years senior to work until 9 p.m. year-round will head to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk, although federal law still stands in the way.
Ohio Senate Bill 50 recently passed the Ohio House after the bill passed the Ohio Senate April with party line voting.
His spokesman, Dan Tierney, said DeWine had not received the bill as of Wednesday morning.
Once DeWine receives the bill, he will have 10 days to sign it or veto it. If he vetoes the bill, lawmakers would need a three-fifths majority in each chamber to reject it.
Ohio law currently allows 14 and 15-year-olds to work until 9 p.m. during the summer or during school holidays, which means they cannot work after 7 p.m. during the school year on school nights.
However, Ohio is unable to change the law without the federal government amending the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Ohio lawmakers also recently passed it Parallel Resolution of the Senate 3 which calls on Congress to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow a teenager under the age of 16 to work from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the school year if the teen has the consent of a parent or guardian.
Ohio Sen. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, introduced both Senate Bill 50 and a Senate resolution earlier this year that would state that 14- and 15-year-olds would need permission from a parent or guardian to work past 9 p.m.
“Give 14 and 15-year-olds another chance to spend an extra hour at the grocery store bagging groceries or even earn extra money” – Mark Johnson, Ohio State Representative, R-Chillicothe, – he said during the last session of the Ohio House of Representatives. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with learning how to work at a young age.”
Johnson told how he delivered newspapers and how he grew up working on a vegetable farm. He said he got a job at Waffle House in his last year of high school, and before he turned 19 he became an assistant manager.
“I learned at a young age to work and be productive,” he said. “None of it hurt me one bit.”
State Rep. Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown, was shocked that her fellow lawmakers were in favor of the bill.
“How dare you pretend that sending 14-year-olds to work night shifts in dangerous places somehow helps families.” she said. “It doesn’t help anyone. It’s exploitation, plain and simple.”
She argued that teenagers cannot fill Ohio’s most sought-after jobs, such as nurses, home health aides and truck drivers.
“It’s not about filling staff shortages.” McNally said. “It’s about lining the corporation’s pockets. … The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was our promise to American children: You deserve a childhood. You deserve an education. You deserve to be unthreatening. Now you want to break that promise for profit.
Ohio businesses can pay people as youthful as 14 and 15 federal minimum wage of $7.25 That’s less than the state minimum wage of $10.70 an hour, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
“We have created a system in which families are forced to rely on their children’s wages to survive, and instead of fixing this problem by paying adults a wage sufficient to support affordable child care, we will soon hand over to corporations a new generation of underpaid, overworked and underprotected workers. And shame on us if we allow this to happen.” McNally said.
Ohio House Democrats Chris Glassburn and Daniel Troy voted for the bill and Senate resolution Ohio House Republicans Jason Stephens and Scott Oelslager voted against both bills.
The Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance spoke in favor of the bill earlier this year in committee, while the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio opposes the bill.
Follow the OCJ reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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