Child labor laws and employment contracts with minors work as two connected but separate systems. Federal and state labor statutes decide whether a minor can legally hold a given job, how many hours they can work, and what tasks they can perform. Contract law decides whether the agreement they sign is enforceable, and the short answer there is that a minor’s employment contract is voidable at the minor’s choice until they reach the age of majority, which is 18 in most states and 19 or 21 in a few.1Legal Information Institute. Minor Employers who mishandle either side face penalties that reach tens of thousands of dollars per violation.
How Old a Worker Has to Be and How Long They Can Work
The Fair Labor Standards Act sets 14 as the minimum age for most non-agricultural jobs. Workers who are 14 or 15 are held to hours designed to keep school first: no more than 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day, and 40 hours in a week when school is out. Shifts have to fall between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. during the school year, with the evening cutoff pushed to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations
At 16, federal hour caps and time-of-day rules disappear. A 16- or 17-year-old can work unlimited hours in any non-hazardous job under the FLSA.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations Many states fill that space with their own restrictions on late-night shifts and weekly hours for older teens, so the state rule usually controls once you clear the federal floor. Agricultural work runs on a parallel track with lower age thresholds; a child of any age can work on a farm owned or operated by their parent.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #40: Overview of Youth Employment (Child Labor) Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Agricultural Occupations
Jobs Minors Cannot Legally Do
The Secretary of Labor has issued Hazardous Occupations Orders that bar anyone under 18 from certain settings: coal mines, plants that manufacture or store explosives, and jobs running heavy power-driven machinery such as forklifts, wood chippers, and commercial bakery equipment like dough mixers and bread slicers.4eCFR. 29 CFR Part 570 Subpart E – Occupations Particularly Hazardous for the Employment of Minors Between 16 and 18 Years of Age Fourteen- and 15-year-olds face a wider ban that covers all manufacturing and processing jobs and most power-driven equipment, including lawn mowers and trimmers.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations
Restaurants employ a large share of teen workers, and the kitchen rules for 14- and 15-year-olds are narrow. They cannot perform any part of the baking process. They cannot operate power-driven food slicers, grinders, or mixers. Cooking is limited to electric or gas grills with no open flame and to deep fryers that automatically lower and raise the basket. Rotisseries, pressure cookers, and high-speed ovens are off-limits. They can clean kitchen surfaces and filter or transport cooking oil only when the temperature stays at or below 100°F, and they cannot work inside a freezer or meat cooler, though briefly stepping in to grab an item is allowed.5U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #58: Cooking and Baking under the Federal Child Labor Provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Narrow Exemptions
A few kinds of work fall outside the FLSA’s child labor rules. Children employed as actors or performers in movies, theater, radio, or television are exempt; the exemption reaches anyone the audience sees or hears, but not stagehands or scriptwriters. Newspaper delivery to consumers is also exempt from the FLSA’s child labor, minimum wage, and overtime provisions, though the exemption does not cover workers who haul papers to distribution centers.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions Many states impose their own entertainment-industry permit requirements even where federal law steps back.
A child of any age can work for a business entirely owned by their parents in non-agricultural settings, with two limits: those under 16 still cannot work in manufacturing or mining, and no one under 18 can work in a hazardous occupation, even for a parent.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations
Is an Employment Contract Signed by a Minor Enforceable?
Under the common law infancy doctrine, minors generally lack the capacity to form binding contracts. An employment agreement a minor signs is voidable at the minor’s option. That means the minor can walk away at any point before reaching the age of majority, and the employer cannot enforce the agreement against them. The minor can also choose to honor it. This one-sided flexibility exists to keep adults from exploiting a young worker’s inexperience.
Employers often ask a parent or legal guardian to co-sign. A parental signature can make the parent personally liable if the minor breaches the deal, but it does not take away the minor’s right to disaffirm. The parent functions more like a guarantor than a party who can bind the child.
Disaffirmance and Ratification
A minor who disaffirms is generally expected to return whatever they received under the contract, though courts apply that requirement loosely in the employment context. An employer cannot sue a minor for breach or force them to keep working after disaffirmance, and courts have historically sided with the minor when these disputes arise.
The window closes at majority. A worker who keeps performing after turning 18 without objecting is treated as having ratified the contract, and the agreement then binds both sides fully. For employers, the real contract risk is concentrated in the period before the worker turns 18.
Emancipated Minors
Emancipation gives a minor more control over their own earnings, but it is not a full grant of adult contractual capacity. Many states still limit the labor contracts an emancipated minor can enter, and violating those limits can result in the emancipation being revoked.7Legal Information Institute. Emancipated Minor Employers should not assume an emancipated minor can be treated identically to an adult for contract purposes.
Pay, Withholding, and Taxes
The FLSA lets employers pay workers under 20 a youth minimum wage of $4.25 per hour during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. Those 90 days run on the calendar, not on days actually worked. When the 90 days end or the worker turns 20, whichever comes first, pay must rise to at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Employers cannot displace existing workers to hire someone at the youth rate.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #32: Youth Minimum Wage – Fair Labor Standards Act Where a state or local minimum wage is higher and does not carve out an exception for young workers, the higher rate applies from the first day.
Income tax withholding applies to a minor’s wages regardless of age. A child under 18 who works for a parent’s sole proprietorship, or for a partnership in which both partners are the child’s parents, is exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes on those earnings. The exemption disappears if the business is a corporation or a partnership that includes non-parent partners.9Internal Revenue Service. Family Employees A working minor claimed as a dependent must file a federal return once earned income clears an annual IRS threshold; for the 2025 tax year the earned-income filing threshold for a single dependent under 65 was $15,750, with a modest inflation adjustment for 2026.10Internal Revenue Service. Check if You Need to File a Tax Return Filing below the threshold can still make sense to recover withheld tax.
Work Permits and Form I-9
Most states require a minor to get a work permit or employment certificate before starting a job. The typical application asks for proof of age such as a birth certificate or passport, a written statement from the employer describing job duties and schedule, and a parent or guardian’s signature. School records confirming academic standing may also be required, because the issuing officer is checking whether the job will interfere with education. The employer’s job description does double duty: it shows a real job offer and lets the officer confirm the tasks are not on the prohibited list. Forms usually come from the school guidance office or the state labor department. The minor gives the original certificate to the employer, who must keep it on file at the worksite for as long as the minor works there.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 212 – Child Labor Provisions
Every employee, regardless of age, has to complete Form I-9. Minors use the same document lists as adults. If a minor cannot present a photo ID from List B, a parent or guardian can establish identity by writing “Individual under age 18” in the Section 1 signature block and completing the preparer certification on Supplement A; the employer then enters “Individual under age 18” in the List B column of Section 2. Employers enrolled in E-Verify cannot use that parental workaround; the minor has to present a List A document or a photo-bearing List B document on their own.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 4.2 Minors (Individuals under Age 18)
What It Costs Employers to Get This Wrong
Civil penalties for child labor violations run up to $16,035 per affected employee, per violation. If the violation causes a worker under 18 to suffer death or serious injury, the penalty rises to $72,876, and that figure doubles for repeated or willful violations.13eCFR. 29 CFR Part 579 – Child Labor Violations – Civil Money Penalties Criminal prosecution is also available: a willful violation can bring a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment for up to six months, or both, with the imprisonment option triggered only after a prior conviction under the same section.14eCFR. 29 CFR Part 570 – Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation
Workplace injuries add another layer. Workers’ compensation is generally available to an injured minor on the same terms as an adult, but when the injury occurs in a job the minor was legally barred from performing, most states impose enhanced penalties or additional compensation, and the employer may lose defenses that would otherwise apply. Some states double or triple the benefits owed to an illegally employed minor who is hurt at work. Stacked with the federal civil penalties, illegal employment of a minor is one of the costliest compliance failures an employer can make.