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COLUMBUS, Ohio -Gov. Mike DeWine is considering whether to sign a bill that would allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work later on school nights. Senate Bill 50 passed the Ohio House last Wednesday in a 62-30 vote, largely on party lines. It passed the Senate on April 9. DeWine hasn’t made any public statements about whether he supports the bill. “We are reviewing it,” said his spokesman, Dan Tierney. Ohio employers must generally pay workers a minimum wage of $10.70, tied to inflation, for non-tipped workers, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. They can pay 14- and 15-year-olds $7.25 per hour, which is the federal minimum wage. SB 50 would allow the teens to work between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at any time of the year if their parents or guardians permit it. Current law only allows 14- and 15-year-olds to work these hours between June 1 and Sept. 1, or during any school holiday. The bill has the support of the Ohio Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance, the billionaire Koch Industries-backed Americans for Prosperity-Ohio, and small business association NFIB in Ohio. While some local chambers of commerce supported the bill, the influential Ohio Chamber of Commerce did not wade into the debate. During debate on the House floor last week, Rep. Mark Johnson, a Chillicothe Republican, expressed his support for the bill by talking about the value of hard work in his family, going back to his grandfather, a West Virginia coal miner who was paid in company scrip that he spent at a company-affiliated store. “I never had to look for a job because I learned how to work and be productive at a young age,” he said. “So, there’s lessons to be learned, and I believe that (bill sponsor) Sen. (Tim) Schaffer does not want to water down the (federal) Fair Labor Standards Act, but give 14- and 15-year-olds another opportunity to stay an extra hour to work in a grocery store, bagging groceries, or to make an extra buck. I find there’s not a thing wrong with learning how to work. With that I encourage a ‘yes’ vote.” State Rep. Lauren McNally, a Youngstown Democrat, said that the legislature had no business in 2025 rolling back child worker protections. “You think you’re empowering them,” she said. “No, you’re just setting them up. You’re saying, ‘We don’t want to pay adults enough, so let’s grind the kids instead.’ Ohio businesses already pay workers under 16 less than minimum wage. So this isn’t about opportunity. It’s about cheap labor.” In the House, the vote mostly followed party lines with some notable exceptions. Democratic state Reps. Daniel Troy of Willowick and Chris Glassburn of North Olmsted voted in favor of the bill with Republicans. Republican Reps. Scott Oelslager of North Canton and Jason Stephens of Lawrence County joined Democrats to vote against the bill. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act also prohibits 14- and 15-year-olds from working past 7 p.m. during the school year. If the employer is subject to both federal and state law, the stricter law would prevail, according to an analysis of the bill by the legislature’s nonpartisan staff. Businesses are subject to the federal law if they have gross revenues of $500,000 or more or are in interstate commerce, among other requirements. Smaller businesses are generally subject to state law.
