Florida’s Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism approved a bill that relaxes child labor laws. The bill removes restrictions on 16- and 17-year-olds to work up to eight hours a day before 6:30 a.m. or after 11 p.m., even on school nights.

It also removes mandated breaks for those working four continuous hours and eases restrictions for 14 and 15-year-olds with certain qualifications.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, argues it supports parental rights and aligns with federal laws, while critics warn it could lead to exploitation.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it is ending collective bargaining for Transportation Security Officers with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 

In a release obtained exclusively by FOX Business, DHS said the TSA has more people doing "full-time union work" rather than performing screening functions at 86% of U.S. airports. 

One morning in 2019, an auditor arrived at a meatpacking plant in rural Minnesota. He was there on behalf of the national drugstore chain Walgreens to ensure that the factory, which made the company’s house brand of beef jerky, was safe and free of labor abuses.

He ran through a checklist of hundreds of possible problems, like locked emergency exits, sexual harassment and child labor. By the afternoon, he had concluded that the factory had no major violations. It could keep making jerky, and Walgreens customers could shop with a clear conscience.

It’s not uncommon for children in the US to do small jobs to pay for their weekly expenses or save for college. But a recent raft of state legislation aimed at weakening child labor regulations has raised concerns about something more sinister at play: the filling of a gap in the US labor market with cheaper, and more easily exploitable...

The US government slapped three McDonald’s franchises in Kentucky with more than $200,000 in fines after an investigation found they employed minors, including a 10-year-old who was illegally made to work until 2 a.m. and who was allowed to operate a deep fryer — all without getting paid.

A franchise in Louisville employed two 10-year-old workers who were among some two dozen minors under the age of 16 to work across 10 McDonald’s locations owned by Louisville-based Bauer Food LLC, it was alleged.

Three McDonald's franchisees are being fined more than $200,000 after breaking federal child labor laws, including employing, but not paying two 10-year-olds, the Department of Labor said Tuesday.

Bauer Food, Archways Richwood and Bell Restaurant Group – which operate 62 locations across Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio – collectively had 305 minors working at their restaurants illegally, the agency found.

They must pay $212,544 in civil penalties, the DOL said.