AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A bill to allow Maine teenagers to work more is getting mixed reviews in the Legislature.
Representatives of hotels and motels, restaurants, merchants and Gov. Paul LePage’s administration spoke Wednesday in favor of a reworked bill limiting 16-year-olds to 32 hours a week and imposing no limits for 17-year-olds.
But the Maine Women’s Lobby told the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee that it would be best to leave the present law alone. Under current law, 16- and 17-year-olds may not work more than 20 hours a week while school’s in session.
Businesses say they employ a lot of teens, and the administration says the proposed change brings Maine closer to federal law.
The women’s lobby says the present law helps students to keep school first, ahead of work.
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