Florida has a labor shortage.

It seems a crackdown on illegal immigrants has left a number of unskilled jobs vacant.

The labor shortage came after Florida passed a law in 2023 requiring employers with more than 25 workers to check their immigration status in the federal E-Verify database. Employers not complying face fines of $1,000 per day.

California has had E-Verify in place for years although in 2016 the state law regarding the use of the federal database was changed so that if could only be used to verify the employment eligibility of those they are offering jobs to and not on whether their current employees can legally work in the United States.

So what is the solution being advanced to solve the labor shortage in the Sunshine State?

It’s reducing child labor restrictions.

The proposal is to allow children as young as 14 to work overnight shifts. That includes working overnight shifts on school days.

Current Florida law prevents teens from working earlier than 6:30 a.m. or later than 11 p.m.

California law does not allow teens to work overnight shifts.

If they are between the ages of 14 and 15, the California Department of Labor notes teens can work outside of school hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. June 1 through Labor Day they can work as late as 9 p.m.

Those who 16 and 17 in California can work between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. outside of school hours or 12:30 p.m. on any evening proceeding a non-school day.

California restricts 12- and 13-year-olds to working only on non-school days. There is an additional restriction they can’t work outside of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. except from June 1 to Labor Day when they can work until 9 p.m.

Even though the California child labor laws clearly are outdated since most public schools start a new school year the first week of August, they clearly place a higher emphasis on education compared to what is advancing through the Florida State Legislature.

California also requires the payment of adult minimum wages.

Exceptions to the hourly restrictions are made in cases of economic duress such as the death of a parent, those in a work experience program, or employed in family businesses such as agriculture or domestic labor on or in connection with premises the parent or guardian owns, operates, and controls.

To be clear, I worked in a family business but my mother made sure on school nights we didn’t work beyond a certain time and completed our homework.

Working in a family business and going to school isn’t detrimental to getting a good education. Just ask Manteca Mayor Gary Singh who graduated from Sierra High and earned degrees at the University of the Pacific even though he worked all the time in the family business including before he reached high school.

All of that said, teens working overnight shifts on school nights as Florida is proposing are not a good thing. There’s one thing about learning the value of work at an early age. But if it comes at a cost of being able to focus on getting an education it is a disservice not just to the teen but taxpayers who, in California, fork out an average of $12,000 a year to educate a kindergarten through 12th grade student.

Given Florida is pushing for a full school day ban on the possession of cellphones by students because of the distraction the devices can create, one would think the Florida legislature would think twice before having teens work overnight and then head to school.

No disrespect meant to Florida, but for a state whose elected leaders like to take routine pot shots at how California is governed it seems they place a higher value filling hospitality jobs and such with teens than they do educating them.

Yes, Gavin Newsom has been known to lecture red states about their alleged shortcomings.

Come to think of it, why hasn’t Newsom taken aim at the Florida move to have teens in school work overnight on school days? True, we’re not talking 14-year-olds working barefoot in factories or 16-year-olds working in slaughterhouses. But given the amount of sleep a teen needs plus the fact they need to be 100 percent awake and focused to learn, what Florida is proposing is taking things a step backwards. And it is a move to allow working overnight shifts coming from the same legislature that is frustrated that cellphones are a distraction in school.

This is not meant to be a glowing defense of the California legislature. Remember, they’re the ones that mandated a later start to high school on the assumption teens would get more sleep and therefore be more attentive in class. The assumption, of course, was they would not be distracted by video games or eyes glued to smartphones with the additional time a later start for school that was designed for them to get more sleep.

At the end of the day, the Florida legislature has made it clear filling low skill overnight jobs in the hospitality industry is a higher priority than educating 14- to 18-year-old students.

Gov. Ron DeSantis can talk all he wants about the value of work – which is indisputable – but to create a situation where it could easily undermine teens getting an education is not leadership.

Fourteen year-olds working overnight shifts on school nights is insane.

Say what you want about Sacramento, but such a reckless proposed law that would undermine the effectiveness of a student to learn isn’t going to make it through the California Legislature and be signed into law by the governor any time soon.

—  This column is the opinion of Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Courier or 209 Multimedia. He may be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com