Teens shore up the local workforce

With school out, many children are preparing for sleepovers, pool parties and vacations. For teens however, things aren’t that simple and their whole summer revolves around three words: “Get a Job.”

Not what every teen likes to hear, but for many it’s a usual summer routine.

However, all is not lost, as teens can still work without the pressures of working overtime.

For low-income students, a program is available to help. The Office of Workforce Development Business and Career Solutions Center specializes in helping teens find a job.

“This year, we are running a program for about eight weeks and it pays about $7 an hour,” said Karen Maloz, of the solutions center.

“Hopefully, this summer job leads into post-secondary education. Right now we’re offering a meal allowance and a transportation allowance depending on the availability of our funds,” she added.

“We use the summer program as a starter program,” Maloz said.

The way the program works is once students pass the eligibility test, they are placed in the workplace of participating employers. Their FICA and salary are all paid for by the center, so employers don’t even have to pay the students to work.

“It’s free,” Maloz said. “We just ask for someone to just give them the opportunity. You’re not going to get a number-one worker here, it’s going to be somebody to teach and who is willing to learn.”

The jobs can range anywhere from a maintenance person at school to working in a library. Even a culinary student from Nicholls is enrolled and working at a local restaurant in Houma.

In order to be eligible for the program, students must be economically disadvantaged, which is by a screening given by the center.

One of the biggest reasons the program has been successful is because of word of mouth. According to Maloz, once employers participate in the program, they spread the word and other companies picks up on it.

The program is designed for 40 students, but Maloz said she expects 50 students to be enrolled.

Even if students don’t qualify for the program, Maloz encourages them to still attempt to find a job.

One of the biggest things for employers to remember when employing teens is the state’s labor law.

According to the Louisiana Department of Labor, laws pertaining to working minors are still in effect during the summer months.

Nearly 67,000 minor employment certificates were issued last year, according to the department. Forty-four percent of those were issued during the summer months.

It is a requirement of both potential employees and employers that these certificates are kept on file year-round.

On non-school nights, the state allows young employees to work later than they could on school nights. Fourteen to 15 year olds can work as late as 9 p.m.

Sixteen and 17 year olds have no restrictions on how late they can work if there is no school the next day. However, it is important for employers to understand that all minors must have an 8-hour rest period between workdays.

Minors under age 14 are prohibited from employment unless under certain circumstances.

Another thing backed by the labor law are breaks. Teens ages 14 to 17 must be granted an uninterrupted break of at least 30 minutes for each five-hour work period, and 14 to 15 year olds can work no more than three hours on a school day and eight on a non-school day. They can work no more than 18 hours during a non-school week.

Prior to a school day, 16 year olds can work until 11 p.m., while 17 year olds can work until midnight.

However, teens looking for a job over the summer may have to put several applications out because not every employer favors the idea of hiring help just for the summer.

Jennifer Davis, manager of Chick-fil-A in Houma, said the youngest worker she has had was 15.

While minors are allowed to work 30-40 hours a week, she doesn’t usually schedule them that many hours. “We’ll give them off for anything they might have going on over the summer,” Davis said.

There are certain jobs minors cannot get, even those enrolled in the program.

Louisiana law prohibits workers under the age of 18 from working in occupations pertaining to hazardous duties, such as operating certain types of power-driven machines, welding, roofing, and performing demolition or wrecking type work.

Delivery drivers are also included on the list.

Davis said while anyone can work for Chick-fil-A, they usually don’t hire people just looking for a summer job.

“We want people who are going to be here for a while even when school does restart again,” she said. “While we are hiring right now, we don’t normally hire people we know are just going to be here for the summer. It takes away a job from someone who may want to work here for an extended period of time.”

Chick-fil-A staffers Beth Boudreaux, Ziara Doiron and Teiah Zeringue serve customers at the Houma eatery. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER