The office of Kim Reynolds has announced the governor will hold a news conference in North Liberty on Monday.
According to a news release, Reynolds will be at Sugapeach Chicken & Fish Fry on Pacha Parkway at 10:30 Monday morning to discuss what she calls “the U.S. Department of Labor’s excessive penalties against Iowa businesses that employ teens.”
Among those scheduled to speak are Reynolds, Sugapeach owner Chad Simmons, and Iowa Restaurant Association President and CEO Jessica Dunker.
Simmons told The Des Moines Register his restaurant has recently been the target of a federal Department of Labor inspection, but he did not elaborate.
Dunker was a proponent of a 2023 law that loosens child labor regulations in the state, allowing 14- and 15-year-olds to work as late as 9:00 on weeknights and 11:00 on weekends. The new law goes against federal regulations that allow teens those ages to only work until 7:00 during the school year and 9:00 over the summer.
The Iowa Restaurant Association is encouraging employers to temporarily switch back to the federal standards for the time being.
The owner of Subway in Maquoketa recently told the Register that thanks to the federal inspections she “lives in terror” over being fined for child labor violations.