4 ms·

> Now they are free to work jobs and devalue minimum wage labor by working at sub minimum wage prices! Not trying to defend this bill, and neither do I have a

> Now they are free to work jobs and devalue minimum wage labor by working at sub minimum wage prices! Not trying to defend this bill, and neither do I have a dog in this fight (I live in Seattle), but this is a disingenuous take that is also very misleading. I am not talking about the second half, I am talking about "now they [teenagers] are free to work jobs" specifically. The reason it is misleading is because teenagers in Arkansas are already free to work jobs. The only difference between now and the timeline where this bill ended up passing is that currently teenagers need to get a work permit before starting work (and if the bill passes, they won't need to). If the bill was actually decreasing the minimum work age, that would have been a different story, and I would have been opposed to it. But this is just removing a barrier. Ironically, even though it is not a very similar situation at all, it reminds me of voter id requirement discussions. With the irony being that the dem/rep alignment for that one seems to be flipped (with democrats being against voter id requirements for voting, and republicans being for it), compared to equivalent stances for the Arkansas bill (with democrats being against the law removing the work permit requirement, and republican being in favor of the permit requirement removal).

BizarroLand 4y ago
Many places are already advertising for 14-15 year olds and offering them less than the usual minimum wage for sub-20 year olds (because legally they can do that) and since families need money some of them are taking them up on it. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/32-minimum-wage-youth#:~:text=The%20law%20allows%20employers%20to%20pay%20employees%20under,Who%20may%20be%20paid%20the%20youth%20minimum%20wage%3F https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/32-minimum-wage... I feel it's a terrible practice and exploiting a legal loophole. Also, specifically for meat packing plants, it is explicitly illegal for under 18-year-olds to operate the machinery: https://www.employmentlawhandbook.com/employment-and-labor-laws/federal/flsa/child-labor/16-17-year-olds/ https://www.employmentlawhandbook.com/employment-and-labor-l... However, they can clean the machinery and thanks to the protections this bill is offering if the random child gets ground into hamburger the plant won't have to pay the family much of anything. I can't think of this as anything but a travesty, doing harmful things to our fellow Americans just to hurt them, so forgive me if my responses sound unwell.
- themrredbeard 4y ago
  This allows as young as 12 year olds work

BizarroLand 4y ago

Many places are already advertising for 14-15 year olds and offering them less than the usual minimum wage for sub-20 year olds (because legally they can do that) and since families need money some of them are taking them up on it. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/32-minimum-wage-youth#:~:text=The%20law%20allows%20employers%20to%20pay%20employees%20under,Who%20may%20be%20paid%20the%20youth%20minimum%20wage%3F https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/32-minimum-wage... I feel it's a terrible practice and exploiting a legal loophole. Also, specifically for meat packing plants, it is explicitly illegal for under 18-year-olds to operate the machinery: https://www.employmentlawhandbook.com/employment-and-labor-laws/federal/flsa/child-labor/16-17-year-olds/ https://www.employmentlawhandbook.com/employment-and-labor-l... However, they can clean the machinery and thanks to the protections this bill is offering if the random child gets ground into hamburger the plant won't have to pay the family much of anything. I can't think of this as anything but a travesty, doing harmful things to our fellow Americans just to hurt them, so forgive me if my responses sound unwell.

themrredbeard 4y ago
This allows as young as 12 year olds work