There is no federal cap on how many hours an adult intern can work in a week, but if the intern counts as an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the employer owes overtime pay for every hour past 40. Interns aged 14 and 15 face hard federal limits: no more than 18 hours in a school week and no more than 40 in a summer week. Everything else about how many hours an intern can work depends on two questions: whether the internship is paid or genuinely unpaid, and whether the intern is a minor.
Adult Interns Who Are Paid or Otherwise Count as Employees
Every paid intern, and every unpaid intern whose arrangement fails the Department of Labor’s primary beneficiary test, is an employee under the FLSA. That means two federal protections apply: the $7.25 minimum wage and overtime pay for hours over 40 in a workweek.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours
Overtime is one and a half times your regular hourly rate for each hour beyond 40. A workweek is any fixed, recurring block of 168 hours, meaning seven consecutive 24-hour periods, and it doesn’t have to run Monday through Sunday.2U.S. Department of Labor. Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act A paid intern who works 47 hours in one week is owed 40 at the regular rate and 7 at the overtime rate. A flat weekly stipend does not let the employer skip the calculation.
There is one narrow carve-out. A salaried intern doing executive, administrative, or professional work can be exempt from overtime if paid at least $684 per week, or $35,568 annually. A 2024 DOL rule tried to raise that threshold, but a federal court struck it down, so $684 remains the enforceable figure.3U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemptions Few interns hit both the salary level and the duties test, so most employee-classified interns qualify for overtime.
What Counts Toward the 40 Hours
The 40-hour threshold includes all compensable time, not just hours at your desk. Training sessions and orientation count as work time unless all four of these conditions are met: attendance is voluntary, the session is outside normal hours, it isn’t directly related to the job, and no other work is being performed. Most intern orientations fail that test.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet: Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Travel time works differently. A regular commute doesn’t count. But if the employer sends you to another city for a one-day assignment, travel time past your normal commute counts. Travel between job sites during the workday always counts. For overnight travel, time spent traveling during your usual working hours is compensable, even on days you don’t ordinarily work.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet: Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Adult Interns Whose Internship Is Genuinely Unpaid
An adult intern who is not an employee under the FLSA has no federal hour cap. Whether the FLSA applies is decided by the seven-factor primary beneficiary test, which weighs things like whether the intern understands the work is unpaid, whether the training resembles an educational setting, whether the schedule fits around school, whether the work displaces paid staff, and whether the internship comes with a job promise. No single factor controls; courts look at the arrangement as a whole. When the intern is the primary beneficiary, the FLSA does not apply, so neither minimum wage nor overtime is required.5U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 71: Internship Programs Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
“No federal hour limit” is not permission to work 60-hour weeks. Long hours cut against the classification itself. An unpaid intern working the same schedule as full-time staff starts to look like a displaced employee, and a grueling workload undermines the argument that the arrangement is primarily educational. An employer who pushes an unpaid intern into long hours is quietly building the case that the intern was actually an employee all along, with back pay owed for every hour.
Interns Aged 14 and 15
The strictest federal hour limits fall on 14- and 15-year-old interns. These are FLSA child labor provisions and function as hard caps that an employer cannot waive, no matter how willing the intern is to work more.
During the school year, 14- and 15-year-olds are limited to:
- No more than 3 hours on a school day, and only outside school hours
- No more than 18 hours in a school week
- Work only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
From June 1 through Labor Day the limits ease:
- Up to 8 hours on a non-school day
- Up to 40 hours in a non-school week
- The evening cutoff extends to 9 p.m.
One nuance worth understanding: these federal rules technically only apply where an FLSA employment relationship exists.6U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations A minor in a truly unpaid, educational internship that passes the primary beneficiary test falls outside the FLSA. In practice the distinction rarely helps an employer, because most states have their own child labor laws that apply regardless of federal classification, and the DOL looks hard at any arrangement involving a minor. Employers with underage interns should follow these hour limits either way.
Interns Aged 16 and 17
Federal law does not limit the working hours of 16- and 17-year-old interns. Many states do, so check state rules before assuming a full schedule is fine.
What federal law does restrict for this age group is the type of work. Minors under 18 are barred from hazardous occupations, including operating power-driven woodworking or metalworking machines, mining, logging, working with explosives or radioactive materials, and driving commercial motor vehicles.7eCFR. 29 CFR Part 570 – Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation
Federal law also doesn’t require a work permit for minors, but many states do. Some states require permits for every worker under 18, others only for workers under 16. Permits usually come from the school or the state labor department and typically need a parent’s signature and proof of age.
Where State Law Adds More
Federal rules are a floor, not a ceiling. When a state law gives an intern more protection than the FLSA, the employer must follow the state standard.
The common places state law goes further:
- Employee classification tests that make more internships employment relationships, pulling in wage and overtime rules
- Minimum wages above the federal $7.25
- Daily and weekly hour caps for 16- and 17-year-olds, and limits on late-night shifts on school nights
- Meal and rest breaks, which federal law does not require for adults
Meal breaks show how much variation exists. Some states require a 30-minute break after five consecutive hours of work; others set the trigger at six, seven and a half, or eight. A handful of states also mandate paid rest breaks of 10 to 15 minutes.8U.S. Department of Labor. Minimum Length of Meal Period Required Under State Law for Adult Employees in Private Sector An intern classified as an employee gets the same break protections in those states as any other worker.
Because federal and state overlap gets complicated fast, look up your own state labor department’s guidance. An internship can follow federal law perfectly and still break a state rule.
If the Hours or Classification Are Wrong
Calling someone an unpaid intern does not make it legally so. If the arrangement fails the primary beneficiary test, the intern is an employee and the employer owes back wages for every hour worked, plus overtime for any week over 40 hours.
A misclassified intern can recover unpaid minimum wages and overtime plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, roughly doubling the back pay owed, and the employer pays the intern’s attorney’s fees and court costs.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties The statute of limitations is two years, extended to three when the violation was willful.10U.S. Department of Labor. Back Pay Child labor hour violations carry separate civil penalties on top of any back wages.11eCFR. 29 CFR Part 579 – Child Labor Violations: Civil Money Penalties
To file a complaint, contact the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243, visit a local WHD office, or use the DOL website.12U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint You can also skip the agency and file a private lawsuit to recover the same damages. Retaliation for a wage complaint is itself a federal violation, so exercising these rights is protected.