DeWine vetoes bill that would allow kids to work longer hours
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed Senate Bill 50 on Wednesday, which would have allowed younger Ohioans to work longer hours on school nights.
“Learning to work is an essential part of growing up,” he wrote in his decision. “Businesses across Ohio each day give young people the opportunity to learn the so-called soft skills that will serve them well when they become adults. In analyzing this bill, it is important to define what it would do and what it would not do.”
DeWine pointed out that, “for the first time,” the bill would “allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work up to 9 pm on SCHOOL NIGHTS,” adding that he disagrees with the bill.
The bill provides multiple clarifications regarding children working, including ensuring that “no person under sixteen years of age may be employed more than forty hours in any one week, nor during school hours” unless there are legitimate reasons for that.
“I believe it unwise to provide for 14- and 15-year-olds to work, on a school night, that late at night,” he said. “I see no compelling reason to deviate from current law.”
He then wrote that teenagers can still work these long hours under the current law, with the only exception that they can do so without affecting their school performance.
“Under current law, 14- and 15-year-old children CAN work up to 9 p.m. during the summer months and during any school break longer than 5 days in duration (i.e., Christmas break and spring break),” he wrote. “Further, under current law, those 16 and older can work up to 9 p.m. even on school nights. The only thing at issue here is whether, for 14- and 15-year-olds, DURING THE SCHOOL WEEK, the time when work must cease is 7 p.m. or 9 p.m.”
In his conclusion, DeWine said that “this veto is in the public interest,” adding that there is no need to change the current law.
“I believe the current law has served us well and has effectively balanced the importance of 14- and 15-year-old children learning to work, with the importance of them having time to study,” he wrote.
Some people, including Chris Quinn, the host of Today in Ohio, criticized the bill way before DeWine made his decision.
“This is because rich employers can’t get enough employees,” Quinn said, according to Cleveland.com. “They want lower expenses, and the Legislature, which only serves their wealthy masters, is doing it.”
He also added that nobody thought about children because “this is just about the needs of business.”
“They’re squeezing families in every way possible,” Quinn said. “In Ohio, the way they have fought childcare help and the way they’ve increased taxation. So, families are hurting and they might resort to this (children working) to help bail themselves out of financial distress caused by poor governing.”
