Florida Senate - 2025                                     SB 918
       
       
        
       By Senator Collins
       
       
       
       
       
       14-01191-25                                            2025918__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the employment of minors; amending
    3         s. 450.081, F.S.; deleting certain restrictions on
    4         minors 16 and 17 years of age being employed,
    5         permitted, or suffered to work; revising the
    6         exceptions to such restrictions for certain minors;
    7         deleting a provision authorizing the Department of
    8         Business and Professional Regulation to grant a waiver
    9         of such restrictions; providing an effective date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Subsections (2), (4), (5), and (6) of section
   14  450.081, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   15         450.081 Hours of work in certain occupations.—
   16         (2)(a) Minors 16 and 17 years of age may not be employed,
   17  permitted, or suffered to work:
   18         1. Before 6:30 a.m. or after 11 p.m. when school is
   19  scheduled the following day.
   20         2. For more than 8 hours in any one day when school is
   21  scheduled the following day, except when the day of work is on a
   22  holiday or Sunday.
   23         3. For more than 30 hours in any one week when school is in
   24  session. However, a minor’s parent or custodian, or the school
   25  superintendent or his or her designee, may waive the limitation
   26  imposed in this subparagraph on a form prescribed by the
   27  department and provided to the minor’s employer.
   28         (b) On any school day, minors 16 and 17 years of age who
   29  are not enrolled in a career education program may not be
   30  gainfully employed during school hours.
   31         (3)(4) Minors 15 years of age or younger may not be
   32  employed, permitted, or suffered to work for more than 4 hours
   33  continuously without an interval of at least 30 minutes for a
   34  meal period; and for the purposes of this law, a period of less
   35  than 30 minutes is not deemed to interrupt a continuous period
   36  of work. Minors 16 and 17 years of age who are employed,
   37  permitted, or suffered to work for 8 hours or more in any one
   38  day as authorized by this section may not be employed,
   39  permitted, or suffered to work for more than 4 hours
   40  continuously without an interval of at least 30 minutes for a
   41  meal period.
   42         (4)(5) Subsections (1), (2), and (3) (1)-(4) do not apply
   43  to:
   44         (a) Minors 14 16 and 15 17 years of age who have graduated
   45  from high school or received a high school equivalency diploma.
   46         (b) Minors 14 and 15 years of age who are within the
   47  compulsory school attendance age limit and who hold a valid
   48  certificate of exemption issued by the school superintendent or
   49  his or her designee pursuant to s. 1003.21(3).
   50         (c) Minors enrolled in a public an educational institution
   51  who qualify on a hardship basis, such as economic necessity or
   52  family emergency. The school superintendent or his or her
   53  designee shall make such determination and issue a waiver of
   54  hours to the minor and the employer. The form and contents
   55  thereof must shall be prescribed by the department.
   56         (d) Minors 14 16 and 15 17 years of age who are in a home
   57  education program or are enrolled in an approved virtual
   58  instruction program in which the minor is separated from the
   59  teacher by time only.
   60         (e) Minors in domestic service in private homes, minors
   61  employed by their parents, or pages in the Florida Legislature.
   62         (6) The department may grant a waiver of the restrictions
   63  imposed by this section pursuant to s. 450.095.
   64         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.