March 3, 2010 12:01 AM
Much has been made over the past couple of weeks over two bills in the Missouri Legislature, SB 875 and HB 1792, that aim to lower the minimum wage for Missouri teens. The bill, set to sunset in three years, would allow Missourians under the age of twenty to be compensatedata rate that is seventy-five percent of the current minimum wage of $7.25.
What at first appears to be blatant age discrimination, may in fact, be more complicated than originally thought. The bills state that any employer may pay any employee the wage of seventy-five percent of the Missouri minimum wage, so long as such wage is not lower than the applicable minimum wage provided under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Furthermore, employers are not to take any action that would result in the discrimination in purposes of hiring, benefits or hours.
A worry exists that if these bills become law, employers may begin to lay off older, more experienced workers in favor of these new, lower-waged workers. The bills provide no real mechanism for enforcement of their provisions, and the mere payment of $5.45 an hour could be construed as discrimination in and of itself.
Young workers are feeling the recession at a rate even more dramatic than the rest of the populace. Unemployment figures for those under twenty are close to 25% in many areas, and to be hiredata rate below the rest of society is unconscionable.
Businesses argue that the decreased minimum wage law for young workers will allow them to hire more workers, thus bringing more young people into the workforce.
While some young people use their income solely or primarily as disposable income, increasing numbers of teens are depending upon their income to pay for rising tuition and living costs, or contributions to a household income where one or more parents may have been laid off or forced to work less hours.
Neither the Missouri Budget Project nor the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations support this bill. The current minimum wage law in Missouri was passed just four years ago in 2006, with an astonishing 76.4% of voters in approval.
To further complicate matters, according to the United States Department of Labor, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows a special minimum wage of $4.25 per hour to workers under the age of 20, but only during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. After 90 days, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay the full federal minimum wage.
In an effort to clear up the issue, a call was made to the Missouri Department of Labor to inquire as to whether the federal law would supersede state law at the end of the ninety day probationary period for young workers. A spokesperson for the Department withheld comment to avoid the task of interpreting legal implications of proposed bills. A message was also left with the sponsors of both bills, and as of this writing have not returned comment.
Complaints abound with government at all levels over frivolous bills like this. The law should be beneficial and clear, these two bills are neither. Missouri, like the rest of the nation, needs job growth, but not on the backs of young people who are already struggling to make ends meet.
Both bills currently reside in committee, and with any luck, that is where they will remain. Writing discrimination into our laws is unacceptable. At best, this bill would allow employers to take advantage of teen workers, and at worst could provide a legal clash of federal v. state minimum wage laws while not providing job growth of any significance.
Stephen Eisele was an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention last year, and works in Springfield, Missouri as a political consultant.
Increasing numbers of teens are depending upon their income to pay for rising tuition and living costs, or contributions to a household income where one or more parents may have been laid off or forced to work less hours.
