Understanding Youth Employment: Federal Child Labor Laws

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Federal laws governing youth employment ensure work doesn’t harm young people’s health, well-being, or educational opportunities. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enacted in 1938, sets standards for minimum age, restricts working hours for younger teens, and identifies jobs considered too hazardous for anyone under 18.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), specifically its Wage and Hour Division (WHD), administers and enforces these protections. For comprehensive information, visit the DOL’s YouthRules! website and its main child labor page.

The FLSA and Child Labor

The FLSA aims to prevent “oppressive child labor,” which generally refers to employing youth under 16 in most jobs or employing youth under 18 in hazardous occupations. This law establishes several key federal standards for non-agricultural work:

• 18 years old: The minimum age for working in occupations declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. Once a worker turns 18, federal child labor rules no longer apply.
• 16 years old: The basic minimum age for most non-hazardous jobs. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds can work unlimited hours in permitted occupations.
• 14 years old: The minimum age for certain non-manufacturing, non-hazardous jobs, but with significant restrictions on working hours and conditions.

The FLSA’s child labor provisions safeguard educational opportunities for minors and prohibit work that could harm their health and safety. The law achieves this by setting age and hour limits and empowering the Secretary of Labor to investigate potential violations and enforce the rules.

The Wage and Hour Division actively enforces these provisions. Employers found violating child labor laws can face significant civil money penalties (CMPs). These penalties can be up to $15,629 per minor subject to a violation (as of 2024). If a violation leads to the serious injury or death of a minor, the penalty can increase to $71,031 per violation, and potentially double that ($137,602) for willful or repeated violations that cause serious injury or death.

Factors like the severity of an injury and the size of the business can influence the final penalty amount. Willful violations can also lead to criminal prosecution and fines. The DOL has increased its focus on enforcement in recent years, highlighting common violations like employing minors for too many hours, in prohibited hazardous jobs, or performing tasks off-limits for their age.

Working Hours for 14- and 15-Year-Olds

Federal law places specific limits on when and how much 14- and 15-year-olds can work in non-agricultural jobs to ensure work doesn’t interfere with their schooling or well-being:

• Work must be performed outside of school hours. They cannot work during the times their local school is in session.
• Daily Hour Limits:
  • Maximum 3 hours on a school day (including Fridays)
  • Maximum 8 hours on a non-school day
• Weekly Hour Limits:
  • Maximum 18 hours during a week when school is in session
  • Maximum 40 hours during a week when school is not in session (e.g., summer vacation)
• Time of Day Restrictions:
  • Work is only permitted between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
  • Exception: From June 1 through Labor Day, evening hours are extended to 9 p.m.

These distinctions between school and non-school periods mean employers must be aware of the local school calendar for their young employees. Compliance requires tracking not just the number of hours worked, but precisely when those hours occur relative to school schedules.

This can be challenging for businesses employing students from different school districts or navigating schedules with half-days, holidays, or teacher work days.

Federal Hour Limits Summary

For more details, see DOL Fact Sheet #43 on Child Labor Provisions for Nonagricultural Occupations.

Jobs for 14- and 15-Year-Olds: Allowed and Prohibited Work

Beyond hour restrictions, federal law also limits the types of jobs 14- and 15-year-olds can perform in non-agricultural settings.

Permitted Jobs

Generally, 14- and 15-year-olds can work in occupations outside of fields like manufacturing, mining, and those deemed hazardous. Common examples include:

• Office/Clerical: Tasks like filing, using office machines (computers, copiers), and general office work.
• Retail: Cashiering, selling, modeling, marking prices, assembling orders, packing items, bagging groceries, stocking shelves, and carrying out customer orders.
• Food Service (Limited): Preparing food and beverages (e.g., operating milk shake blenders, coffee grinders, popcorn poppers), serving customers, operating dishwashers, toasters, and warming devices. They can perform limited cooking, such as using electric or gas grills that do not involve cooking over an open flame, and using deep fryers only if equipped with automatic devices to lower and raise baskets. Cleaning cooking equipment and surfaces is allowed if the temperature does not exceed 100°F. They may enter walk-in freezers briefly to retrieve items.
• Creative/Intellectual: Working as a tutor, teacher’s assistant, musician, artist, performer, computer programmer, or software writer.
• Other Specific Roles: Dispensing gasoline or oil and providing courtesy services at gas stations; hand washing/waxing cars (but no repairs or use of garage lifts); grounds maintenance using light hand tools like rakes and shovels (but not power-driven mowers or cutters); errand or delivery work by foot, bicycle, or public transportation (but not for a public messenger service). Properly certified 15-year-olds can work as lifeguards at traditional swimming pools and water amusement parks (but not natural environments like beaches or lakes).

Prohibited Jobs

The list of prohibited jobs for 14- and 15-year-olds is extensive and designed to keep them away from dangerous tasks and environments. Key prohibitions include:

• Manufacturing, Mining, or Processing: Any work in factories, mines, or processing plants, including workrooms where goods are manufactured or processed.
• Hazardous Environments: Working in freezers or meat coolers (except for brief entry to retrieve items), boiler or engine rooms.
• Power-Driven Machinery: Operating or tending most power-driven machinery. Exceptions exist for office machines and certain permitted kitchen appliances. Specifically banned are power-driven mowers, cutters, trimmers, food slicers, grinders, choppers, processors, and bakery mixers.
• Specific Tasks: All baking operations; loading and unloading goods from trucks, railcars, or conveyors; catching or cooping poultry; youth peddling, sign waving, or door-to-door sales activities; working from ladders or scaffolds; maintenance or repair of buildings or equipment; outside window washing from window sills.
• Industries: Work in transportation, warehousing, storage, communications, public utilities, or construction (except for purely office or sales work physically separate from operational hazards). Employment by a public messenger service is also prohibited.
• Hazardous Occupations (HOs): Performing any work covered by the 17 Hazardous Occupations Orders established for workers under 18 (detailed in the next section).

The distinction between permitted job categories and prohibited tasks within those categories is crucial. A 15-year-old might be legally employed in a grocery store (a permitted retail setting) but cannot legally operate the power-driven meat slicer or bakery machines found there. Similarly, they can perform limited cooking tasks in a restaurant but are barred from most baking operations and cooking over open flames.

This requires employers to carefully design job roles and provide diligent supervision to ensure young workers are only assigned tasks permissible for their age, even if prohibited tasks are common in that workplace.

The DOL’s YouthRules! website offers comprehensive guidance on permitted and prohibited work.

Hazardous Jobs for 16- and 17-Year-Olds

While federal law allows 16- and 17-year-olds to work unlimited hours, it still protects them by prohibiting employment in jobs deemed particularly hazardous. The minimum age for working in these hazardous occupations is 18.

The Secretary of Labor identifies these dangerous jobs through the Hazardous Occupations Orders (HOs) for non-agricultural work. There are currently 17 HOs:

1. Manufacturing or Storing Explosives (HO 1): Working in plants manufacturing or storing explosives or articles containing explosive components.
2. Driving Motor Vehicles and Outside Helper (HO 2): Operating motor vehicles on public roads or working as an outside helper on such vehicles. (Note: Limited exceptions allow 17-year-olds to perform incidental and occasional driving under strict conditions, but jobs requiring regular driving like delivery routes are prohibited).
3. Coal Mining (HO 3): All jobs in or about a coal mine.
4. Logging and Sawmilling (HO 4): Most jobs in logging, forestry services, forest fire fighting, timber tract management, and sawmilling operations.
5. Power-Driven Woodworking Machines (HO 5)* Operating machines like table saws, radial saws, jointers, shapers, sanders, and routers.
6. Exposure to Radioactive Substances (HO 6): Any work involving exposure to radioactive substances and ionizing radiation.
7. Power-Driven Hoisting Apparatus (HO 7)* Operating, riding on, or assisting with equipment like forklifts, cranes, derricks, hoists, manlifts, and non-automatic elevators.
8. Power-Driven Metal-Forming, Punching, and Shearing Machines (HO 8)* Operating machines that shape, punch, or cut metal.
9. Mining, Other Than Coal (HO 9): Most jobs in mining operations like quarries, metal mines, and sand/gravel operations.
10. Power-Driven Meat-Processing Machines, Slaughtering, and Meat Packing (HO 10)* Operating or cleaning power-driven meat slicers, grinders, choppers, and saws. Also includes most jobs in slaughtering, meat/poultry packing, processing, or rendering. This applies wherever such machines are used, including restaurants and delis.
11. Power-Driven Bakery Machines (HO 11)* Operating, cleaning, or repairing machines like dough mixers, dough sheeters, and cookie/cracker machines.
12. Power-Driven Paper Products Machines (HO 12)* Operating machines like balers, compactors (including trash compactors), and certain paper products machines.
13. Manufacturing Brick, Tile, and Related Products (HO 13): Most jobs involved in the manufacturing process.
14. Power-Driven Circular Saws, Band Saws, Guillotine Shears (HO 14)* Operating or assisting with these types of saws and shears, as well as chain saws, reciprocating saws, wood chippers, and abrasive cutting discs.
15. Wrecking, Demolition, and Shipbreaking Operations (HO 15): All jobs related to these activities.
16. Roofing Operations (HO 16)* All work performed on or about a roof, including tasks performed on the ground related to roofing.
17. Trenching and Excavation Operations (HO 17)* Most jobs associated with trenching and excavation, including working in trenches deeper than four feet.

*A limited exemption exists for HOs 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 17 allowing 16- and 17-year-old apprentices and student-learners enrolled in approved vocational education programs to perform some otherwise prohibited work under specific supervision and safety conditions.

The list of hazardous occupations reflects known dangers in various industries. The Department of Labor has updated these orders in the past to reflect changes in jobs and equipment. Ongoing evaluation helps ensure the list remains comprehensive and protective against current and emerging workplace hazards.

The exemption allowing apprentices and student-learners to work in some hazardous occupations under controlled conditions provides valuable training opportunities while ensuring safety. However, this balance depends on the quality of training programs and supervision provided.

For the official details on prohibited jobs, consult the DOL’s Hazardous Occupations page or the specific regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR Part 570, Subpart E).

Employment Rules for Children Under 14

Federal law is quite restrictive regarding the employment of children under the age of 14 in most non-agricultural jobs covered by the FLSA. The general rule is that such employment is prohibited.

However, there are a few specific, limited exceptions where federal law permits children under 14 to work:

• Newspaper Delivery: Delivering newspapers directly to the consumer. This includes home delivery routes and street sales.
• Acting/Performing: Working as an actor or performer in movies, theatrical productions, or radio and television productions.
• Parent-Owned Business: Working in a non-mining, non-manufacturing, non-hazardous business owned solely by their parents or legal guardians.
• Casual Babysitting & Minor Chores: Performing casual babysitting or minor chores in a private home. These activities are often considered outside the scope of a formal employment relationship covered by the FLSA.
• Evergreen Wreath Making: Working at home to make wreaths composed of natural evergreens, including harvesting the materials.

Agriculture operates under different rules, often allowing employment at younger ages (see Exemptions section).

The applicability of these rules often depends on whether a formal “employment” relationship exists under the FLSA. Activities like casual babysitting for a neighbor or doing minor yard work are typically not viewed as formal employment subject to these regulations.

Similarly, unpaid volunteer work for non-profit organizations is generally not covered. The exemption for working in a parent-owned business also highlights that the law treats work for a parent differently than work for an unrelated employer.

Common Exemptions to Federal Child Labor Rules

While the FLSA sets general standards, it also includes several significant exemptions where the typical rules regarding minimum age, working hours, or hazardous jobs may not fully apply.

Parent-Owned Business

One major exemption allows children of any age to work for a business that is solely owned by their parents (or persons acting as parents). Federal law does not restrict the hours these children can work. However, this exemption has important limits:

• Children under 16 still cannot be employed in mining or manufacturing.
• Children under 18 still cannot be employed in any of the Hazardous Occupations.

More details can be found in Fact Sheet #43.

Agricultural Employment

Agriculture has a distinct set of federal rules that are generally less restrictive than those for non-agricultural jobs:

Minimum Ages: Children can work in agriculture at younger ages than in other industries. With parental consent or if a parent works on the same farm, 12- and 13-year-olds can do non-hazardous work outside school hours. On small farms exempt from federal minimum wage, children under 12 can work under similar conditions. By age 16, minors can perform any farm job, including hazardous ones, at any time. Children working on a farm owned or operated by their parent face no age or job restrictions under federal law.

Hazardous Occupations (Agriculture): There is a separate list of hazardous farm jobs (Ag HOs) prohibited for workers under 16 (unlike the under-18 standard for non-ag HOs). These include tasks like operating tractors over 20 PTO horsepower, operating many types of power-driven farm machinery (corn pickers, combines, hay balers), working with certain breeding animals, felling large timber, working in silos or manure pits, and handling highly toxic chemicals. Limited exemptions allow 14- and 15-year-old student learners in approved programs (like 4-H or vocational agriculture) to perform some of these tasks if properly trained and certified.

Hour Restrictions: Federal law primarily restricts agricultural work to “outside school hours” for those under 16, without the specific daily/weekly caps seen in non-agricultural rules.

Comparison Table

For detailed agricultural rules, see Fact Sheet #40: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Agricultural Occupations.

Newspaper Delivery

Minors engaged in delivering newspapers directly to the consumer are completely exempt from FLSA child labor provisions, as well as minimum wage and overtime rules.

• Scope: This applies to traditional home delivery routes and street sales directly to readers. It does not cover tasks like hauling bulk newspapers to distribution points or newsstands.
• Age: Federal law sets no minimum age for this specific task. However, state laws may impose age limits (e.g., Texas allows 11+ for routes).
• Independent Contractors: Sometimes, newspapers classify carriers as independent contractors rather than employees. This classification, combined with the FLSA exemption, can lead to situations where the newspaper company asserts limited responsibility for the carrier’s working conditions, age, or safety.

More information is available on the DOL’s page on newspaper carriers.

Actors and Performers

Children employed as actors or performers in motion pictures, theatrical productions, or radio and television productions are exempt from federal FLSA child labor rules.

• Scope: This covers a range of performers, including actors, singers, dancers, musicians, and others providing distinctive, personalized services for broadcast or production. It may also cover appearances in reality shows.
• State Law Primacy: Because federal rules do not apply, state laws become paramount in regulating child actors and performers. Many states have detailed regulations covering work permits, allowable hours on set, mandatory education time, supervision requirements, and financial protections like trust accounts (e.g., California’s Coogan Act). However, a significant number of states lack specific regulations for child performers.

For more information, see the DOL’s state-by-state comparison of child entertainment laws.

These major exemptions—agriculture, newspaper delivery, acting, and parent-owned businesses—appear rooted in historical context and specific industry structures rather than a uniform application of safety principles across all types of youth work.

Agriculture’s rules reflect its historical family-farm basis, though they now apply to large commercial operations. The newspaper exemption relates to the traditional “paperboy” model, while the acting exemption acknowledges the unique demands of the entertainment industry.

Federal vs. State Laws: Which Rules Apply?

A critical aspect of child labor law compliance is understanding the relationship between federal and state regulations. Many states have their own child labor laws, which may differ from the federal FLSA standards.

The Stricter Standard Rule

The fundamental principle is straightforward: When federal and state child labor laws address the same issue, the law providing the greater protection to the minor must be followed. This means employers must comply with whichever standard (federal or state) sets the higher minimum age, stricter hour limitations, or broader occupational prohibitions.

Example 1 (Hours): If federal law allows a 15-year-old to work 18 hours during a school week, but their state law limits them to 15 hours, the employer must adhere to the stricter 15-hour state limit.

Example 2 (Nightwork): If federal law prohibits work after 7 p.m. for a 14-year-old during the school year, but state law permits work until 9 p.m., the employer must follow the stricter 7 p.m. federal cutoff time.

Common State Variations

States frequently enact laws that are more restrictive than federal standards, particularly in areas such as:

• Minimum Ages: Some states may set higher minimum ages for certain types of work.
• Working Hours: Many states impose daily and weekly hour limits on 16- and 17-year-olds, whereas federal law does not. States may also have different rules for hours on school days versus non-school days, or during school weeks versus vacation weeks.
• Nightwork: State laws often have stricter nightwork prohibitions, limiting work later into the evening or earlier in the morning than federal law, sometimes varying these limits based on whether the next day is a school day.
• Prohibited Occupations: States may identify additional jobs or tasks as hazardous or prohibited for minors beyond the federal HOs.
• Work Permits/Age Certificates: While the FLSA does not require minors to obtain work permits, many states do mandate them as a condition of employment for certain age groups.

Finding Your State’s Laws

Because state laws vary significantly and the stricter standard applies, employers and young workers must be familiar with the specific requirements in their state. The U.S. Department of Labor provides resources to help locate this information:

• State Labor Offices Contact Information
• State Child Labor Law Summaries

It is always best to consult the official website or contact the Department of Labor (or equivalent agency) for the specific state in question.

The need to navigate both federal and state regulations creates a notable compliance challenge for employers. This burden can be especially significant for small businesses without dedicated human resources or legal expertise, or for companies operating across state lines where requirements can differ substantially.

It also means that the rights and restrictions applicable to a young worker can change merely by crossing a state border, underscoring the importance of checking local rules.

Our articles make government information more accessible. Please consult a qualified professional for financial, legal, or health advice specific to your circumstances.