With Governor Granholm proclaiming June as Youth Employment Month in Michigan, the timing couldn’t be better for House passage today of a bill championed by the Michigan Restaurant Association that allows students 16 and 17 years of age to work 22 hours a week.
S.B. 320, sponsored by Sen. Tony Stamas (R-Midland), removes the current formula of a maximum 48 hours combined school and work hours and establishes a standard 22-hour work maximum during any week that school is in session for teens 16 and 17. The laws governing employment of 14- and 15 year-olds remain unchanged.
“As one of the largest employers of youth, the restaurant and foodservice industry is a place where many students get their first experience in the working world. Jobs teach students important life skills like responsibility, teamwork and the value of the work ethic,” said MRA Executive Director Rob Gifford. “This legislation resulted from a collaborative effort on the part of employers and the education community. It’s a win-win for employers and students by making it easier to track the number of work hours students put in and eliminates any confusion when employing students from different districts over how many hours each is enrolled in school and, therefore, allowed to work.”
The restaurant industry employs nearly one in three working students. Under the current hours formula, the number of hours students can work has decreased about 27 percent over the past decade (from an average of 24 hours per week in 1994 to about 17.5 hours per week in 2004) while the number of school hours required has continued to grow.
In 1994, state law required 900 hours of instruction per year over 180 days. A 1995 law gradually increased the minimum hours of school instruction from 990 hours during the 1995-96 school year to 1,098 hours in 2003-2004 without increasing the minimum number of school days.
Michigan was one of only three states, Delaware and Maryland being the others, where the hours a student works is a combination of school and work hours. Thirty states have no limit on the number of hours 16- and 17-year-olds can work when school is in session. Of the 17 states that have limits on the number of hours that can be worked while school is in session, the average is 36.5 hours per week. This is in addition to time spent in school.
The MRA urges the Governor to sign this bill, which received strong bipartisan support by House and Senate lawmakers. | 
