Lawmakers reject child wage changes
Lawmakers Friday nixed a bill that would have authorized a training wage for workers under the age of 20.
A legislative committee unanimously voted down LD 1346, which proposed paying teen workers $5.25 an hour for the first six months of employment and also would have removed limits on hours worked by minors 16 and older during the school year, according to the Sun Journal. The state's minimum wage is $7.50 an hour, and currently minors are limited to 20 hours a week during the school year. Bill sponsor Rep. David Burns, R-Whiting, said the changes would have given employers more opportunities to hire minors, but opponents said the measures were harmful to young workers.
Another bill aiming to change child labor laws is still alive. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, proposes increasing the number of hours minors can work during the school year to 24 hours a week and pushing back the time minors can work to on a school night from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Though the Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development voted in March to support it, LD 516 has still not been reported out of committee, according to the paper.
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