Teen's Excessive Work Hours Sparks Discussion About Child Labor Laws

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Apr 27, 2023 1:30 PM EDT

A Utah teenager recently went viral on Reddit for posting their schedule for their part-time job. They are expected to work 32 hours a week, including four 6-hour shifts directly after already going to school for 8 hours. I know there are probably a bunch of angry people reading this and thinking, "that's not very much work! If this teen would hike up their bootstraps, they would be able to work these hours and finish their homework with no issues." In some cases, they might be right. When I was in college, I was working on things constantly, whether it be for school, extracurriculars, my career, or my literal job. The distinction is that I was an adult making my own choices when I consistently woke up at 4 AM to finish my homework. They might not have been good choices, but they were adult choices nonetheless. I was lucky enough that when I was in high school, my parents stopped me from having too many extracurriculars and after-school obligations. Teenagers need to be protected from working around the clock, which is why the story about the teenager working 32 hours plus school sparked such an interesting discussion on Reddit.