As Reported by the Senate Workforce Development Committee

136th General Assembly

Regular Session S. C. R. No. 3

2025-2026

Senator Schaffer

Cosponsors: Senators Reineke, Lang, Wilkin, Huffman

A c o n c u r r e n t R E S O L U T I O N

To urge Congress to make changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow a person under 16 years of age to be employed between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. during the school year.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF OHIO (THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING):

WHEREAS, The United States lost over 22 million jobs and had an unemployment rate of 14.8% in April 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest observed unemployment rate since data collection began in 1948; and

WHEREAS, Employers are still experiencing a shortage of workers to fill the eight million currently available positions, despite the economy recovering jobs that were lost because of the COVID-19 pandemic; and

WHEREAS, Teenage workers are becoming a larger portion of the United States workforce, with an unemployment rate of 13.2% in November 2024; and

WHEREAS, Business owners have had to adjust their operations in response to the ongoing labor shortage, including decreasing their open hours; and

WHEREAS, Business owners could more quickly return to regular operations, including resuming their usual open hours, by being able to hire the necessary staff to meet their operating needs; and

WHEREAS, The Fair Labor Standards Act and Ohio law permits a person under 16 years of age to work until 9 p.m. during summer months or other school holidays; and

WHEREAS, Extending the hours which a person under 16 years of age may work during the school year allows business owners to hire the staff required for the business to resume operating during its usual hours of operation; and

WHEREAS, Local economic growth results when more people are employed and earn wages to spend on goods and services produced by businesses within the local area, which in turn requires businesses to hire more workers to meet the increased demand; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 136th General Assembly of the State of Ohio, urge the Congress of the United States to make changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow a person under 16 years of age to be employed between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. during the school year if the person has approval to do so from the person's parent or legal guardian; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, and the news media of Ohio.