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You're listening to Total information am with

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Tom Ackerman. I'm Megan Lynch. Labor

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laws for teenagers may be getting

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a tweak this week as a piece of legislation

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makes its way through the Missouri House

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o'fallon State Representative Dave Henman

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would like to loosen restrictions that

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force Children between the age of 14 and 16

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to get permission from both their parents and schools

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to work. Joining us now to

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detail the changes is Representative

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Hinman. Good morning,

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good morning from your state capitol. How are

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you? We are doing well. Thank you for being

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with us. A lot of people are asking why

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change the law now.

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Well, I think this law went into effect

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in 1957. Uh So

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after 67 years, I think it's time to take

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a look at it and see what changes can be made.

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Uh Currently, the state of Missouri

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requires a work permit

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uh for a youth either

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15 or 16 to get a job

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and that work permit uh goes

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through the school and the school district has

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to sign off on that to allow

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your child to uh work

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in the state of Missouri. And

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I think it is a much better proposal

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to have a permission slip that

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is signed by the parents. I

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just feel it's better for the parents to make that decision

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on whether or not your child

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uh should be able to be employed at 15 or 16

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years old for those who might

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not be familiar with this process.

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How hard is it to get that

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approval from schools? And my

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second question is what happens

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if you don't, I mean, what if you get

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caught, let's say that the child

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is working and you didn't get the proper permission?

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Well, I think that for your first question

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on how hard it is, uh, I don't

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believe it's that difficult. Uh,

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there was, uh, I, I did a

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segment last night on a TV station

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out of Springfield and they interviewed a school

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district there and they said if

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that child truly needs a job, they're not

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gonna stand in the way. Uh, so

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I'm not sure really, you know, a again

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why this permit process is in there

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if that's, uh, if that's how we're

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deciding whether or not to do a permit or

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not. Uh, I, I don't think it's that difficult

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to get it through the school district to tell you the truth.

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And the second part is,

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um, are there people out there? Absolutely.

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There's folks out there that, uh, are, are working

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without this permit. Some don't know it. Um,

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and others I, I guess are

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maybe skirting the system a little bit. Um,

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and II, I don't really know if there

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is that big of an issue. Um,

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if they get turned into the state or not, I'm

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not sure. What

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about the argument that really a child's

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first job is to be in school

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and that by school administrators

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knowing that they're working,

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it could help them look

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for potential issues if a child

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is being, I don't wanna say abuse,

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but if this process is being abused

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and a child might be working too much or in conditions

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that aren't proper

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sure. And, and I, I agree

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that, uh, a school,

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I mean, should have a little say

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so. And I would think, you know, a, as a parent

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that, you know how your child is

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doing in school, you know, how their grades are,

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uh, you know, how their behavior

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is in school if, if you're engaged as a parent,

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um, I, I just don't think it should be the

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school that makes that decision whether or

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not your child should

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have a job. So

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what happens from here? How do you, uh,

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what is the next step for you? Uh

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The, the next step is the bill has

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been put on the, uh, house

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floor calendar. Uh, which means it could

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be brought up at any time over the next three

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weeks, uh, for discussion on the

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floor. Uh, so that's really our next

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point. Um, again, if you're familiar

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with how things work up here at the Capitol. The

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last three weeks are, are a little

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crazy up here and,

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uh, both sides of the House and the Senate are trying to

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get priorities completed. And

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I, I don't think this is really a priority,

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but I think it's important to have this discussion

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on the floor to see what the thoughts are

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from both sides of the aisle, uh, to see

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if there are ways to improve this bill.

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Representative, I'm, I'm curious you, you

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made a comment a moment ago about, you

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know, parents should be tuned in and

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parents who are tuned in to know how

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their kids are doing. What

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about the argument that there are some parents

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that really aren't

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paying attention and aren't maybe

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watching out for their kids, um,

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especially if it's a household

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that has a lot going on. Um, wouldn't

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the, the school approving this provide

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just one more check to protect that child?

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Well, I'm not sure if you're, if you're looking

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at I, is the checklist

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for the school to determine whether or not

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that job is a, a viable job,

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uh, for that student or

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is it to make sure that the student

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is getting their homework done and that kind

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of stuff? Um, and I

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would say that we already

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have standards in place, federal standards.

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We already have state standards

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that are in place for what

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kind of a job a student can have.

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Um, and, and what they're doing at that

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job. So, if there is an issue,

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I think, you know, oh, hopefully

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that student would bring that to

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the attention of someone. Um,

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and, and again, I, I do believe the schools

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could be a part of this and, and through communication

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with the parent and what's going on.

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But for the, I, I disagree

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that the school should be the one watching

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out for a child.

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I guess another question would be why did this go

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into effect in 1957 in

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the first place? I mean, it was a long time ago,

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but why did they do that in 1957?

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And again, I'm not really sure. I wasn't

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around at that time. Um, so

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my, my dad was a high

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school senior. I mean, um,

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so I, I'm not sure what, you know why

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that was originally put into place that the

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school signed off on that. Um,

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so I can't answer that question for

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you. Well, representative, we thank

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you for spending time with us and we'll keep an eye on

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your legislation. Thank you so much.

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Thank you. You guys have a great day.