Are you violating child labor laws?

Federally, the Department of Labor (DOL) has the following general rules for child labor for minors under the age of 18 in the United States.

Young people aged 16 and 17 may:

• Work at any hour and with no more limits than adults on the number of hours;
• May not operate motor vehicles; and
• May not work in so-called hazardous jobs involving power-driven machinery, roof locations, explosives, demolition, forklifts, meat slaughtering/processing, brick or tile manufacturing and more.

Young people aged 14 and 15 may:

• Work in offices, food preparation or service, cashiering, waiting tables, sales and other retail jobs, pumping gas, cleaning up and several more functions;
• May not work when schools are in session;
• May never work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. during the school year, or between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. during weekends and vacation;
• May not work more than 3 hours a day/18 hours a week during the school year; and
• May not work more than 8 hours a day/40 hours a week when schools are out.

Because state laws may be different than the federal laws, please consult with the states in which you employ workers to see if these statutes are different. In the case of a state law being more limiting than the federal law, the state law supercedes.

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For more details on child labor laws including hazardous work, non-hazardous work, hours of employment, family farms, wages paid, questions and other information on the Federal Child Labor Laws, visit our friends.