If your business employs anyone under 18, you’re operating under a layer of labor law that many employers underestimate — or don’t fully understand until they receive a violation notice.

Minor labor laws govern how old a worker must be to do certain jobs, how many hours they can work, what times of day they can be scheduled, and what breaks they’re entitled to. These rules exist at both the federal level, through the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and at the state level — where the rules are often stricter and more specific than federal minimums.

Federal Baseline: What the FLSA Requires

The Fair Labor Standards Act sets the national floor for minor labor protections. State laws can be more restrictive, but can’t be less protective than the FLSA minimum.

Under federal law, the rules differ significantly depending on age:

Ages 14 and 15:

• Can work in a limited range of occupations (primarily retail, food service, and office/clerical work)
• Cannot work during school hours
• Limited to 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week
• Up to 8 hours on a non-school day, 40 hours in a non-school week
• Can only work between 7 AM and 7 PM (9 PM from June 1 through Labor Day)

Ages 16 and 17:

• Fewer hour restrictions — can work any number of hours
• Cannot work in hazardous occupations (as defined by the Secretary of Labor)
• No federal restrictions on times of day

These are the minimums. Many states go further.

Why State Law Almost Always Governs

Most employers are surprised to learn just how much variation exists in minor labor law across states. The gap between a state like California — which has some of the most protective minor labor laws in the country — and states that rely primarily on federal minimums is substantial.

When federal law and state law conflict, the rule that provides greater protection to the minor applies. So if your state says a 16-year-old can only work 28 hours during a school week but federal law doesn’t restrict 16-year-old hours, the state rule wins.

This creates a compliance burden for multi-state employers: you can’t apply a single ruleset across all locations. The rules that apply to a 16-year-old working in your California location are different from those that apply to a 16-year-old in your Texas location.

State-by-State Overview: Major Markets

The table below covers key rules in 10 of the largest states by employment. This is a reference summary — always consult your state labor department or legal counsel for the complete and current rules.

State	Covered Ages	Hour Restrictions	Break Requirements
California	Under 18	3 hrs/day (school days), 8 hrs/day (non-school), 48 hrs/week max	30-min meal break after 5 hrs; 10-min rest per 4 hrs
New York	Under 18	8 hrs/day, 6 days/week during school; 48 hrs/week otherwise	30-min break for shifts 6+ hrs
Texas	Under 18 (14-15 stricter)	8 hrs/day, 48 hrs/week (14-15: limited to non-school hours)	No state-mandated break for minors (federal applies)
Florida	Under 18	15 hrs/week during school; 30 hrs/week when school not in session (14-15)	30-min break for 4+ hr shifts
Illinois	Under 16	3 hrs/day on school days; 8 hrs/day otherwise; 48 hrs/week max	30-min break after 7 continuous hrs
Pennsylvania	Under 18	8 hrs/day, 44 hrs/week during school; 48 hrs/week otherwise	30-min break after 5 hrs for minors
Ohio	Under 18	8 hrs/day, 6 days/week, 40 hrs/week (14-15: more restrictive)	30-min break recommended for 5+ hr shifts
Georgia	Under 16	4 hrs/day on school days; 8 hrs/day otherwise	Federal FLSA applies; no additional state break law
Washington	Under 18	8 hrs/day, 6 days/week during school; 48 hrs/week otherwise	10-min paid rest per 4 hrs; 30-min meal after 5 hrs
Colorado	Under 18	8 hrs/day, 40 hrs/week; 14-15 restricted to non-school hours	10-min paid break per 4 hrs; 30-min unpaid meal after 5 hrs

Note: Laws change. Always verify current rules with your state’s Department of Labor.

Hazardous Occupations: The Non-Negotiables

Regardless of state law, federal law prohibits minors from working in 17 designated hazardous occupations. These are absolute restrictions — no exceptions, no waivers, no parental consent overrides.

The prohibited occupations include:

• Manufacturing or storing explosives
• Operating power-driven meat processing machines
• Mining, including coal mining
• Logging and sawmill operations
• Operating forklifts or power-driven hoisting equipment
• Wrecking and demolition
• Roofing operations
• Excavation work
• Operating power-driven bakery machines
• Operating circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears

The full list of prohibited occupations is maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor. Violations in this area carry the stiffest penalties — up to $13,227 per violation for willful or repeated violations under current FLSA civil penalty guidelines.

Industries Most Exposed to Minor Labor Law Violations

While any employer of minors needs to pay attention, some industries carry higher exposure due to the nature of their work, their staffing patterns, or the demographics of their workforce.

Restaurants and food service

Restaurants are among the highest employers of minors in the country — and one of the highest-risk environments for violations. Late-night hours, pressure during rushes to keep staff on the clock, and high turnover that makes careful HR tracking difficult all contribute to frequent compliance gaps. The most common violations involve 14-15 year olds working past 7 PM (9 PM in summer) and minors operating prohibited equipment like commercial slicers and certain fryers.

Retail

Retail businesses often hire teens for evenings and weekends, which creates hour restriction issues, particularly around total weekly hours during school periods and late-night closing shifts for 14-15 year olds.

Agriculture

Agricultural employment has unique FLSA exemptions that allow younger workers on small farms, but these exemptions have their own rules and don’t eliminate state-level protections. Farm employers should treat minor labor law compliance as a priority area.

Construction

The hazardous occupation restrictions are particularly relevant in construction. Many standard construction tasks — operating heavy machinery, roofing, excavation — are prohibited for workers under 18. Employers must screen scheduled tasks, not just scheduled hours.

Work Permits: The Requirement Many Employers Miss

Many states require minors to obtain a work permit (sometimes called an employment certificate) before they can legally be hired. The process typically involves the minor getting a permit from their school, signed by a parent or guardian and a school official, and presenting it to the employer before beginning work.

As of 2026, states requiring work permits for minors include California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, Wisconsin, and many others. Requirements vary: some states require permits for all minors under 18, others only for those under 16. Some permits expire at the end of the school year and must be renewed.

Employers are typically required to keep copies of work permits on file and produce them during a Department of Labor audit. Hiring a minor without a required work permit is itself a violation, independent of whether any hour or time-of-day violations occur.

What a Compliance Violation Actually Costs

Minor labor law violations aren’t just about fines, though the fines are real. Under the FLSA, willful or repeated violations can result in civil penalties up to $13,227 per violation. State penalties vary and can be higher.

But the broader costs often exceed the fines:

• Reputational damage if violations become public — particularly relevant for consumer-facing businesses
• Back pay for affected employees if hours violations resulted in unpaid wages
• Legal fees if violations trigger litigation
• Audit exposure — a single complaint can trigger a broader DOL investigation
• Operational disruption while responding to an investigation

Most violations are preventable. The businesses that receive citations typically weren’t trying to break the law — they just didn’t have systems in place to catch violations before they happened.

How to Build a Compliance-First Scheduling System

The most effective way to stay compliant with minor labor laws is to build the rules into your scheduling and time tracking systems, so that violations are flagged or blocked automatically rather than discovered in an audit.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Capture date of birth at hiring

Your HR system or time tracking platform should store each employee’s date of birth and use it to calculate their age automatically. This is the foundation — you can’t enforce age-based rules if you don’t know which employees are minors.

Apply rules at the scheduling stage

Don’t wait until a minor has already worked a non-compliant shift to catch the violation. A scheduling system with minor labor law rules built in should flag or block schedules that would violate hour limits, time-of-day restrictions, or consecutive-day rules for the employee’s age and state.

Monitor actual hours in real time

A minor approaching their weekly hour limit should trigger an alert to their manager before they exceed it — not after. Real-time dashboards that show approaching hour thresholds give managers the visibility to make adjustments before a violation occurs.

Enforce break rules automatically

Break requirements for minors are often stricter than for adult employees. Break tracking built into your time tracking system — with automatic alerts when a required break hasn’t been taken — is more reliable than manager memory during a busy shift.

Maintain an immutable audit trail

Every time entry, every edit, and every manager override should be logged with a timestamp and user ID. If you’re ever audited, this audit trail is your evidence of good-faith compliance. Systems that allow timesheets to be edited without logging the change are a liability.

The Bottom Line on Minor Labor Law Compliance

Minor labor laws are complex, they vary by state, they change periodically, and they apply to a workforce segment that has high turnover and is often scheduled by managers with other priorities. That combination makes compliance genuinely challenging — but not impossible.

The businesses that manage it well are the ones that have built compliance into their systems rather than relying on manager awareness alone. They know which employees are minors, they have rules that apply automatically during scheduling, and they have real-time visibility into hours and breaks before violations occur.

If your current time tracking and scheduling tools don’t support minor labor law enforcement natively, that’s a gap worth closing. The cost of a violation — financial, reputational, and operational — is almost always higher than the cost of getting the right tools in place first.

CloudTimeManager includes a built-in minor labor law rules engine.

Employee date of birth automatically triggers age-appropriate scheduling rules. The platform flags and blocks non-compliant schedules before they’re published. Real-time dashboards show approaching hour limits. Every time entry is logged to an immutable audit trail. Available on Professional and Business plans. Try it free for 14 days.