Child Labor Laws: Age Limits, Hours, and Youth Wages

Federal child labor laws set 14 as the earliest age for most non-farm work, cap the hours 14- and 15-year-olds can work during the school year, open most jobs at 16, and keep everyone under 18 out of the occupations the government has declared hazardous. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is the primary statute, and states can add stricter rules on top.¹ When federal and state rules disagree, the rule that better protects the young worker controls.

Minimum Working Ages

Federal law works in three age tiers:

Age 14. The earliest age for most non-agricultural jobs. Work is limited to a short list of approved occupations.
Age 16. The general minimum age for employment. Any job that isn’t declared hazardous is open, and federal hour limits end.
Age 18. Every federal age-based restriction drops away.

The baseline in the statute is actually 16. The FLSA treats 16 as the standard minimum employment age and then carves out a narrow exception letting 14- and 15-year-olds work in specific safe occupations under strict conditions.² That framing matters: 14- and 15-year-olds can only take jobs from an approved list, while 16- and 17-year-olds can take almost anything that isn’t hazardous.³

What 14- and 15-Year-Olds Are Allowed to Do

For this age group, federal law lists the jobs that are allowed and treats everything else as off-limits. Permitted work includes:⁴

Office and clerical tasks such as filing, answering phones, and data entry.
Retail work including cashiering, stocking, bagging, pricing, and window trimming.
Food service: preparing and serving food and drinks, cleaning produce, and limited cooking on electric or gas grills. No open flames. Deep fryers are permitted only when they have automatic basket-lowering devices.
Gas station work like pumping gas and hand-washing cars, but no vehicle repair and no use of lifts or pits.
Delivery on foot, by bicycle, or by public transit.
Tutoring, art, and similar creative or intellectual work.
Lifeguarding at traditional pools and water parks, if the worker is at least 15 and properly certified.

Some quirks in the list trip employers up. A 14-year-old can load hand tools and personal equipment onto a vehicle but cannot ride outside the truck cab or load heavy freight. Cleaning cooking equipment is permitted, but only when surfaces and liquids are below 100°F. The list is written narrowly so that workers this young stay away from industrial machinery, freezers, and meat-preparation areas.

Hour Limits During the School Year

When school is in session, 14- and 15-year-olds face limits on both hours and time of day:⁵

No more than 3 hours on a school day.
No more than 18 hours in a school week.
Up to 8 hours on a non-school day.
Up to 40 hours in a non-school week.
Work must fall between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. during the school year.
From June 1 through Labor Day, the evening cutoff extends to 9 p.m.

All work must be performed outside school hours. These are federal floors. Several states impose tighter windows or lower weekly caps, so meeting the federal standard isn’t automatically enough.

Once a worker turns 16, the federal hour limits end. There is no federal cap on daily or weekly hours for 16- and 17-year-olds and no federal clock window.³ Many states still restrict late-night or early-morning shifts for this age group during the school year, and those state rules apply where they exist.

Hazardous Jobs Banned Under 18

Even after 16, when most hour rules fall away, federal law blocks anyone under 18 from the most dangerous jobs. The Department of Labor maintains 17 Hazardous Occupations Orders for non-agricultural work.⁶ They cover:⁷

Manufacturing or storing explosives.
Driving on public roads or working as an outside helper on a motor vehicle. A limited exception lets 17-year-olds drive cars or small trucks under strict conditions.⁸
Coal mining and other mining.
Logging, sawmill work, and forest firefighting.
Operating power-driven woodworking machines.
Working with radioactive substances.
Operating forklifts, cranes, backhoes, scissor lifts, and other power-driven hoisting equipment.
Operating power-driven metal-forming, punching, and shearing machines.
Operating power-driven meat slicers, grinders, choppers, or other meat-processing equipment. This applies at delis, grocery stores, and restaurants, not just packing plants.⁹
Operating power-driven bakery machines.
Operating balers, compactors, and paper-products machines.
Manufacturing brick, tile, and related products.
Operating power-driven circular saws, band saws, chain saws, and wood chippers.
Wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking.
Roofing and all work on or about a roof.
Excavation, including trenching, tunneling, and building construction.

The meat-processing rule catches employers off guard the most. It covers any establishment with power-driven slicers or grinders, so a 17-year-old at a sandwich shop cannot operate the deli slicer even if it looks like a simple countertop machine.⁹

Youth Minimum Wage

Federal law lets employers pay workers under 20 a special rate of $4.25 per hour during their first 90 calendar days on the job. That figure has not changed since it was enacted, regardless of increases to the regular federal minimum wage.¹⁰ The 90-day clock runs on consecutive calendar days from the first day of work, not days actually worked.¹¹

Two protections rein in the rate. If the worker turns 20 before the 90 days are up, pay must rise to at least the regular minimum wage immediately. And employers cannot fire, cut hours, or otherwise displace existing workers to bring someone in at $4.25. That anti-displacement rule is enforced the same way as illegal retaliation under the FLSA.¹⁰ Many state minimum wages sit well above the federal floor, and those higher rates apply to young workers too.

Where Different Rules Apply

Several kinds of work follow their own federal rules, and the differences matter.

Parent-Owned Businesses

A child of any age can work for a business owned entirely by their parents, as long as the work isn’t in manufacturing, mining, or a hazardous occupation. The exemption only applies to sole proprietorships. Partnerships and corporations don’t qualify, even when a parent holds a majority stake.¹²

Agriculture

Farm work follows a separate age scheme under 29 U.S.C. § 213(c). Children as young as 12 can work on a farm with parental consent or on the same farm where a parent is employed, so long as the task isn’t hazardous.¹³ Children under 12 can work on their family’s own farm, or on small farms not covered by federal minimum wage rules with parental consent. At 14, agricultural workers face no general age restriction, though hazardous farm tasks remain off-limits until 16 (or any age on a parent’s farm).¹⁴

Newspaper Delivery and Child Performers

Home delivery of newspapers is fully exempt from federal child labor, minimum wage, and overtime rules.¹³ Child actors and performers in motion pictures, theater, and radio or television work are exempt from the FLSA’s child labor provisions at the federal level. Most states then impose their own rules on child performers, covering on-set tutors, maximum hours, and trust accounts for earnings.

Age Certificates and Work Permits

Federal law does not require work permits for minors, but it gives employers a strong reason to obtain one. An employer holding a valid age certificate for a young worker gets a safe harbor against claims of unknowingly violating the age rules. If the certificate says the worker is old enough and the employer relied on it in good faith, the employer isn’t liable for the age-based violation.¹⁵

To get a federal age certificate, the minor provides proof of date of birth: a birth certificate, baptismal record, passport, or a school record backed by a sworn parental statement.¹⁶ Many states run their own work permit systems through school districts or state labor departments, and those state permits typically satisfy the federal requirement. The certificate should stay on the employer’s premises throughout the minor’s employment so it can be produced during an inspection. Employers must also display the federal FLSA poster where workers can read it.¹⁷

Penalties for Violations

The Wage and Hour Division inspects workplaces, reviews payroll, and interviews workers. Investigations often start from confidential complaints.¹⁸

Civil penalties adjust for inflation each year. The maximums effective January 2025 are:¹⁹

Up to $16,035 per affected worker for a standard violation.
Up to $72,876 per violation when the violation causes serious injury or death.
Up to $145,752 per violation when the injury or death results from a willful or repeated violation.

The Department can also go to federal court to block the shipment of goods produced at a workplace where child labor violations occurred within the prior 30 days, which reaches companies further down the supply chain.²⁰

Criminal prosecution is reserved for the worst cases. A willful FLSA violation can bring a fine of up to $10,000 and up to six months in jail. Imprisonment requires a prior conviction under the same provision, so a first-time offender typically faces only a fine.²¹

How to Report a Violation

To report a suspected child labor violation, call the Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243 or contact the agency online. You do not have to give your name. Complaints are confidential, and the agency will not disclose the complainant’s identity, the nature of the complaint, or whether a complaint exists.²²

Federal law makes it illegal for an employer to fire, demote, cut hours, or otherwise punish a worker for filing a complaint, taking part in an investigation, or testifying in an FLSA proceeding.²³ That protection covers the minor, a parent reporting on the child’s behalf, and any coworker who cooperates with investigators. Retaliation is a separate violation and carries its own penalties.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 201 – Short Title
2
eCFR. 29 CFR 570.2 – Minimum Age Standards
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the FLSA for Nonagricultural Occupations
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Non-Hazardous Occupation – Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor
5
eCFR. 29 CFR 570.35 – Hours of Work and Conditions of Employment Permitted for Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age
6
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 570 – Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation
7
U.S. Department of Labor. FLSA – Child Labor Rules
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 34 – Hazardous Occupations Order No. 2
9
eCFR. 29 CFR 570.61 – Occupations in the Operation of Power-Driven Meat-Processing Machines (Order 10)
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 206 – Minimum Wages
11
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 32 – Youth Minimum Wage – Fair Labor Standards Act
12
U.S. Department of Labor. Workers Under 18
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions
14
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 40 – Overview of Youth Employment Provisions for Agricultural Occupations
15
eCFR. 29 CFR 570.5 – Certificates of Age and Their Effect
16
U.S. Department of Labor. Application for Federal Certificate of Age
17
U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Minimum Wage Poster
18
U.S. Department of Labor. Child Labor Enforcement – Keeping Young Workers Safe
19
U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments
20
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 80 – The Prohibition Against Shipment of Hot Goods Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
21
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 US Code 216 – Penalties
22
U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint
23
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 215 – Prohibited Acts, Prima Facie Evidence