Arkansas governor signs new bill, weakening child labor protections.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a bill into law that rolls back several child labor protections in the state, including a measure that previously required employers to obtain work certificates for children under the age of 16. The new legislation, known as the Youth Hiring Act of 2023 or H.B. 1410, was passed by the Arkansas state legislature earlier this month and no longer requires youth under the age of 16 to have a work certificate as a condition of their employment.

Proponents of the legislation have argued that removing the certificate would eliminate a tedious step that stood in the way of minors getting a job quickly in the state. They also said that the bill would restore decision-making to parents about their children and streamline the hiring process for minors. However, opponents of the legislation have argued that the work certificate served as a form of protection for vulnerable youth, especially immigrant youth, who may not always have a parent or guardian to sign off for them to work and who could be exploited without that certificate.

“When we think about kids working who are 14, we think about who this might protect, it’s not the 14-year-old who’s working at the ice cream parlor in your hometown, whose parents have given them permission to work. We’re worried about the children who are at risk of being exploited and who are being exploited today,” Laura Kellams, the northwest Arkansas director of the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a group that advocates for children’s rights in the state, said earlier this month during a committee hearing on the bill.

Governor Sanders’ spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a statement that while the governor believes protecting kids is the most important, the permit was an arbitrary burden on parents to get permission from the government for their child to get a job. Henning further stated that all child labor laws that actually protect children still apply and they expect businesses to comply just as they are required to do now.

The passage of the bill comes after the Biden administration announced plans last month to crackdown on labor exploitation of migrant children across the country, following an investigation conducted by the New York Times. Opponents of the legislation argue that the work certificate served as a form of protection for vulnerable youth, especially immigrant youth, who may not always have a parent or guardian to sign off for them to work and who could be exploited without that certificate.

The signing of the bill by Governor Sanders comes after a major US food sanitation company that operated facilities in eight states, including Arkansas, recently paid a $1.5 million civil penalty for employing minors in hazardous conditions. Packers Sanitation Services illegally employed at least 102 children between the ages of 13 and 17 in jobs that required them to use toxic chemicals and clean razor-sharp saws. This incident highlights the importance of strong child labor protections to prevent companies from exploiting vulnerable children.

It is important for states to ensure that their child labor laws are comprehensive and provide adequate protection for all minors. While proponents of the Youth Hiring Act argue that the bill streamlines the hiring process for minors and restores decision-making to parents, opponents believe that it exposes vulnerable youth to exploitation. It remains to be seen how the new law will impact child labor in Arkansas and whether there will be an increase in cases of exploitation.