Current Events > LA House votes to remove lunch breaks, cut benefits for child workers

(+) Yeah! (+)

Mild correction on title, the benefits are cut for everyone not just child workers

https://www.nola.com/news/politics/legislature/la-lawmakers-vote-to-remove-lunch-breaks-for-child-workers/
article_ef234692-fd9e-11ee-99f5-771c7366107a.html

A Louisiana House committee voted Thursday to repeal a law requiring employers to give child workers lunch breaks and to cut unemployment benefits part of a push by Republicans to remove constraints on employers and reduce aid for injured and unemployed workers.
The House Labor and Industrial Relations panel advanced the child labor legislation, House Bill 156, along with House Bill 119, which would slash the amount of time for which people can collect unemployment aid. A third bill the committee approved, House Bill 529, would change how workers' compensation wages are calculated in ways that could reduce benefits received by some injured laborers.

The bills, which head to the full House, are part of a broad effort by Republicans to weaken labor unions and strengthen employers' hands in Louisiana. They are aligned with steps other Republican-led legislatures have taken in recent years, and on Thursday, GOP lawmakers attributed the moves to Gov. Jeff Landry's directive to "reform" the business environment and remove bureaucratic red tape.

First-term state Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Denham Springs, who sponsored the child labor measure and owns Smoothie King franchises across the Deep South, said he filed the bill in part because children want to work without having to take lunch breaks. He questioned why Louisiana has the requirement while other states where he owns Smoothie King locations, such as Mississippi, don't have them, and criticized people who have questioned the bill's purpose.
The wording is Were here to harm children. Give me a break," he said. "These are young adults.
The committee approved his bill 10-3.
Earlier, the panel advanced HB 119 the proposed restructuring of the state's unemployment benefits system. Lawmakers pitched it as a way to get more people into paying jobs and a disincentive against remaining in the unemployment benefits system for too long.
If passed by the House and Senate and signed by the governor, the bill would reduce the maximum period for which people can gather unemployment benefits in a given year from 26 to 20 weeks.
The bill would also make the amount of time people can collect benefits dependent on the state unemployment rate, meaning workers would not be able to take advantage of the full 20-week maximum under the current unemployment rate. It sets a 12-week cap on those benefits when Louisiana's statewide unemployment rate is at 5% or less. And it lays out a scale where for each additional half-percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, laid-off workers can collect benefits for an additional week.
Only when the unemployment rate rises above 8.5% would workers be able to claim benefits for the maximum 20 weeks. Louisiana's unemployment rate was 4.2% in February, the latest month when data was available from the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Critics blasted the unemployment bills Thursday as harmful to laborers.
Christina LeBlanc, a policy analyst for the pro-worker nonprofit Invest in Louisiana, previously the Louisiana Budget Project, said the proposed system would disproportionately harm rural parishes whose unemployment rates fall below the state's overall percentage of unemployed people. East Carroll Parish, for example, has an unemployment rate of 9.8%, according to LeBlanc.
First responders who'd been injured on the job and a representative of the state firefighters' union later spoke against HB 529, the bill carried by Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, to change the way payments to injured workers are calculated.
Currently, workers' comp wage benefits are calculated by multiplying a worker's hourly wage by the average number of hours they worked in the four weeks preceding the workplace accident. Crews' bill proposes jettisoning that system and instead calculating their weekly wages by taking the total amount of money they received in the 52 weeks before their accident divided by 52.
Workers in Louisiana can currently earn up to 75% of the statewide average weekly wage at the time of their injury, according to Nolo.com, a legal consulting group.
Chad Major, president of the Professional Firefighters' Association of Louisiana, said the bill would cause workers who've gotten raises or promotions before an accident to receive lower amounts in workers' comp benefits than they would have been paid had they been on the job.
"You look at 52 weeks thats fine and dandy," echoed Robert Todd, an EMT who said he had been injured and received workers' comp. "But if I get injured two weeks before my next pay raise, Im stuck making what I made before."

Crews said his bill would help streamline the workers' comp process.
This is a great bill in terms of simplifying the process and being able to move more quickly," he said. The committee approved it, 10-3.
Republican-led state legislatures nationwide have often moved to slash workers comp benefits, a Propublica investigation found. Other statehouses have similarly moved in recent years to weaken child labor regulations, and some have moved to more tightly regulate labor unions the goal of several other bills moving through the Capitol in Baton Rouge, including one that would make it more challenging for unions to collect dues through payroll deductions.

Give it enough time and they'll remove laws against child labor.

Ever marching backwards smgdh.

"Earlier, the panel advanced HB 119 the proposed restructuring of the state's unemployment benefits system. Lawmakers pitched it as a way to get more people into paying jobs and a disincentive against remaining in the unemployment benefits system for too long."

Unemployment is at 3.8%. That is extremely low historically and globally. This is a nonissue.

Isn't there already a federal law about breaks for people under 18 if they work more than 4 hours?

Lawmakers should not be allowed to bring forth laws in order to benefit their own businesses but the trying not to be a corrupt piece of shit challenge is impossible for Republicans.

No kid or adult for that matter is saying "sure I want to keep working and not have a break" so fuck this lying piece of shit.

ExtremeLuchador posted...

Isn't there already a federal law about breaks for people under 18 if they work more than 4 hours?

At this point, even if there are--admittedly don't know for certain, we're at a point that I don't think states care.

PeteyParker posted...

No kid or adult for that matter is saying "sure I want to keep working and not have a break" so f*** this lying piece of s***.

So, I can imagine some people saying "Man, I wish I didn't have to take a break right now" and would be willing to delay a break but not give it up entirely lmao.

ExtremeLuchador posted...

Isn't there already a federal law about breaks for people under 18 if they work more than 4 hours?

Yes, at least until some shithole state sues to keep a law like this in place and scotus rules "ThE cOnStItUtIoN dOeSn'T sAy AnYtHiNg AbOuT cHiLdReN gEtTiNg BrEaKs" also the DoL can no longer enforce labor laws.

A 3 week general strike would solve so many problems in this country.

Republicans just care so fucking much about children that it hurts. I'm in pain from how much they care about kids.

republicans are evil but people keep voting for them its so sad

CADE_FOSTER posted...

republicans are evil but people keep voting for them its so sad

But the border!

Nevermind the strict bipartisan border hill the GOP shot down

There needs to be a new change in the TOS. You can say any flaming thing about Republicans. What do you say mods.

wackyteen posted...

So, I can imagine some people saying "Man, I wish I didn't have to take a break right now" and would be willing to delay a break but not give it up entirely lmao.

Thats not whats happening here though

Texas made it legal last year for outdoor workers to not get water breaks the evil is the point they dont care about reg people only the rich

ScazarMeltex posted...

A 3 week general strike would solve so many problems in this country.

correct me if wrong, but most people couldnt survive doing that. Its sadly the trap where you get your hours or you are screwed.

its been said that a 10 days strikes of every worker in america would collapse the economy so alll we need is 9 days to get everything we want

Funny how they're young adults when Republicans want them to work, but they're just kids who need protection when Republicans want to ban all discussion of LGBTQ in schools

CADE_FOSTER posted...

its been said that a 10 days strikes of every worker in america would collapse the economy so alll we need is 9 days to get everything we want

it be faster than that if truck drivers go on strike. The worse part would be recovery, it might only be a week long strike, but it likely take 2-3 weeks for businesses and supplies to recover

MC_BatCommander posted...

Funny how they're young adults when Republicans want them to work, but they're just kids who need protection when Republicans want to ban all discussion of LGBTQ in schools

They are ok with god in every class room and they want to hire preachers in texas to fill teaching spots

First-term state Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Denham Springs, who sponsored the child labor measure and owns Smoothie King franchises across the Deep South, said he filed the bill in part because children want to work without having to take lunch breaks.

Where exactly did he find these children?

So they banned abortion so kids can work like slaves. This country is becoming more scary every year.

red states are evil we must flip them blue

MC_BatCommander posted...

Funny how they're young adults when Republicans want them to work, but they're just kids who need protection when Republicans want to ban all discussion of LGBTQ in schools

Was just about to quote that same line. Despicable hypocrites

CADE_FOSTER posted...

red states are evil we must flip them blue

Even if that happened, republicans in deep red states would just ignore the results and retain power.

Child labor is already illegal.

SaikyoStyle posted...

Even if that happened, republicans in deep red states would just ignore the results and retain power.

thats not how it works they wouldnt have a choice

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

Child labor is already illegal.

Define what a child is and then define what labor is. Oh look, it is legal.

RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Republicans just care so f***ing much about children

Well, as long as they're a speck in their mother's uterus anyway. After that, fuck 'em.

Republicans are evil.

How can any working think these people are in their side?

creativerealms posted...

Republicans are evil.

How can any working think these people are in their side?

fear mongering propaganda

CADE_FOSTER posted...

They are ok with god in every class room and they want to hire preachers in texas to fill teaching spots

Counselors, not teachers.

LeoRavus posted...

So they banned abortion so kids can work like slaves. This country is becoming more scary every year.

They also want to keep college prohibitively expensive to funnel poor people into the military. Theyve openly admitted as much.

wackyteen posted...

A Louisiana House committee voted Thursday to repeal a law requiring employers to give child workers lunch breaks and to cut unemployment benefits part of a push by Republicans to remove constraints on employers and reduce aid for injured and unemployed workers.

Every part of this sentence is horrific.

creativerealms posted...

Republicans are evil.

You see for rich people other people's use is military or prison slaves

MC_BatCommander posted...

Funny how they're young adults when Republicans want them to work, but they're just kids who need protection when Republicans want to ban all discussion of LGBTQ in schools

You forgot that according to Republicans, they're also adults when they commit a crime. Unless they are upper middleclass, average to good-looking cis heterosexual whites and their crime is sexual in nature.