Current:Home > MarketsWisconsin Republicans propose eliminating work permits for 14- and 15-year-olds-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Wisconsin Republicans propose eliminating work permits for 14- and 15-year-olds
View Date:2025-01-11 22:26:58
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Children ages 14 and 15 would no longer need a work permit or parental permission to get a job under a bill Republican Wisconsin lawmakers released on Friday.
The proposal comes amid a wider push by state lawmakers to roll back child labor laws and despite the efforts of federal investigators to crack down on a surge in child labor violations nationally.
Under current law, 14- and 15-year-olds in Wisconsin are prohibited from working most jobs unless they have permission from a parent or guardian and have verified their age with the state Department of Workforce Development. The department can revoke youth work permits at any time if it believes a child’s safety is being threatened.
Sen. Cory Tomczyk and Reps. Clint Moses and Amy Binsfeld, the Republicans sponsoring the bill, called youth work permits “needless administrative barriers that slow down the hiring process.”
“It’s important that young people have the opportunity to work without having to endure excessive government regulation,” they said in a statement asking other lawmakers to cosponsor the bill.
The bill continues to require employers to keep their own records of employees’ ages and hours worked, but without work permits verified by a state agency, companies caught violating child labor laws can more easily claim ignorance.
Earlier this year, the Labor Department fined Wisconsin-based meat packing contractor Packers Sanitation more than $1.5 million for employing at least 100 children, some as young as 13, to clean dangerous equipment such as bone saws and skull splitters in plants across the U.S. The company claimed it wasn’t aware that those workers were minors but said it has since taken steps to improve the way it verifies employees’ ages.
State lawmakers across the country, largely Republicans, have in recent years embraced legislation that would allow kids to work longer hours and in more hazardous occupations. Many such bills were proposed as solutions to worker shortages, but advocates against child labor have decried the measures as needlessly endangering children.
Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law in March eliminating permits that, similar to those in Wisconsin, required employers to verify a child’s age and obtain a parent’s consent.
Sanders later signed separate legislation raising civil penalties and creating criminal penalties for violating child labor laws, but advocates worry that eliminating the permit requirement makes it significantly more difficult to investigate violations because there are fewer records of where kids are being employed.
Earlier this year, Wisconsin Republicans proposed allowing children as young as 14 to serve alcohol in restaurants and bars. If that bill passed, Wisconsin would have the lowest such limit nationwide, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The work permits bill proposed Friday follows little more than a month after a 16-year-old boy in northern Wisconsin died while working at a sawmill. Initial reports suggest that Michael Schuls was performing work allowed by state laws when he was killed by a wood-stacking machine, but his death and the deaths of other teen workers this summer have brought increased attention to child labor rules.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is unlikely to sign either of the Wisconsin proposals into law if they pass the Republican-controlled Legislature. He vetoed a bill last year that would have let 14- and 15-year-olds work later hours during the summer.
Evers’ Republican predecessor, former Gov. Scott Walker, signed a bill in 2017 that removed work permit requirements for 16- and 17-year-olds.
___
Harm Venhuizen is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Harm on Twitter.
veryGood! (4618)
Related
- South Carolina to take a break from executions for the holidays
- Chinese warship comes within 150 yards of U.S. missile destroyer in Taiwan Strait
- Poll: One year after SB 8, Texans express strong support for abortion rights
- Wisconsin Farmers Digest What the Green New Deal Means for Dairy
- Jason Kelce collaborates with Stevie Nicks for Christmas duet: Hear the song
- Some bars are playing a major role in fighting monkeypox in the LGBTQ community
- U.S. Unprepared to Face Costs of Climate Change, GAO Says
- Mother and daughter charged after 71-year-old grandmother allegedly killed at home
- Satire publication The Onion acquires Alex Jones' Infowars at auction
- Explosive Growth for LED Lights in Next Decade, Report Says
Ranking
- How Jersey Shore's Sammi Sweetheart Giancola's Fiancé Justin May Supports Her on IVF Journey
- Investors Worried About Climate Change Run Into New SEC Roadblocks
- Kevin Costner and Wife Christine Baumgartner Break Up After 18 Years of Marriage
- Shop the Best Silicone-Free Conditioners for All Hair Types & Budgets
- Arkansas governor unveils $102 million plan to update state employee pay plan
- Children's hospitals are the latest target of anti-LGBTQ harassment
- Martin Hoffert
- Edward Garvey
Recommendation
-
Deion Sanders says he would prevent Shedeur Sanders from going to wrong team in NFL draft
-
Vanderpump Rules: Ariana Madix Catches Tom Sandoval Lying Amid Raquel Leviss Affair
-
Carbon Pricing Can Help Save Forests––and the Climate––Analysis Says
-
Teresa Giudice Says She's Praying Every Day for Ex Joe Giudice's Return to the U.S.
-
Pitchfork Music Festival to find new home after ending 19-year run in Chicago
-
Harold N. Weinberg
-
Wind Power to Nuclear, Team Obama Talks Up a Diverse Energy Portfolio
-
Flash Deal: Save $621 on the Aeropilates Reformer Machine