Child labor laws 2026: what employers need to know before summer hiring

Summer hiring naturally skews younger. In food service, hospitality, seasonal retail, and camps, a significant share of the available labor pool is under 18 — students looking for work during the break, fitting roles that don't require experience.

Most employers aren't hiring minors as a deliberate strategy; they're just hiring for the season. But minor workers come with a specific set of federal and state requirements — hour limits, prohibited job duties, age-based restrictions — that don't apply to the rest of your workforce. For multistate employers, those requirements vary by state and sit on top of the federal baseline.

The DOL's Wage and Hour Division has increased enforcement focus on child labor cases in recent years, and current administration officials have committed to continuing that posture.

Minor workers often get processed like everyone else, but the compliance requirements that apply to them are much different. If your business hires workers under 18, the rules warrant a dedicated review before busy season starts — and this article covers what that review should include.

Federal child labor rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) apply based on age, with restrictions tightening for younger workers. Here's how the tiers break down.

Minors under 14

Workers under 14 are largely excluded from FLSA-covered employment. DOL-recognized exceptions are narrow: newspaper delivery, certain agricultural work, acting, and casual babysitting. If your business is covered by the FLSA, you should assume workers under 14 are not eligible.

14- and 15-year-olds: hour limits apply

During the school year, 14- and 15-year-olds may work no more than three hours on a school day (including Fridays), no more than 18 hours per week, and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. During summer and school breaks, the limits expand: up to eight hours per day, up to 40 hours per week, and until 9 p.m. They are still restricted to non-manufacturing and non-hazardous work.

16- and 17-year-olds: hours unlimited, jobs restricted

Federal law does not cap hours for 16- and 17-year-olds. However, they are banned from all jobs designated as hazardous occupations under the FLSA. Many states add their own hour restrictions on top of this federal baseline.

Even for 16- and 17-year-olds with no hour restrictions, certain job duties are categorically off-limits. The DOL's hazardous occupation orders ban minors from a specific list of tasks, and this is where staffing agencies and construction employers face the most exposure.

Prohibited job duties under federal law include:

• Driving motor vehicles or serving as an outside helper on a motor vehicle
• Operating forklifts, cranes, or other power-driven hoisting equipment
• Roofing, excavation, wrecking, and demolition
• Operating power-driven woodworking, metal-forming, or paper-product machines
• Meatpacking and meat processing
• Mining, work with explosives, and logging
• Work involving radioactive substances or radiation

For staffing agencies: the worker's assignment location does not change the compliance obligation. If a placed worker is under 18 and assigned to a role that involves any of the above, the agency and the client employer both carry exposure.

For construction employers: roofing, demolition, and excavation are explicit prohibitions. 16- and 17-year-old workers on a job site need to be kept away from these tasks entirely, not just supervised during them.

The FLSA sets a floor, not a ceiling. States can enact more restrictive child labor laws, and most do. When state rules are stricter than federal, employers must follow the stricter standard. When state rules are less restrictive, federal law governs.

A few current examples worth flagging:

• California: limits 16- and 17-year-olds to four hours per day on school days and eight hours on non-school days. During the summer, the cap is eight hours per day and 48 hours per week. California also imposes time-of-day restrictions on older teens.
• Florida (2024 law): allows 16- and 17-year-olds to exceed 30 weekly hours during the school year if a parent, guardian, or school superintendent provides a written waiver. The same law allows work during school hours for home-schooled and virtual school students, and requires 30-minute breaks for teens working more than eight hours in a day.
• Washington (HB 1121, effective July 1, 2026): will allow 16- and 17-year-olds enrolled in a bona fide college program or qualifying career and technical education program to work expanded hours during the school year.

For multistate employers, the compliance layer multiplies. A scheduling rule that works in one state may violate law in another. Payroll systems need to be able to enforce state-specific hour limits by work location, not just by employee home address.

Getting this right before summer hiring starts is significantly easier than correcting it mid-season. These steps apply regardless of industry.

1. Identify which rules apply to your locations. Compile the federal baseline and any state-level rules for every jurisdiction where you operate. If you're a staffing agency, this includes client sites.
2. Audit your job assignments against the hazardous occupation list. Any role that touches banned tasks needs a policy that prevents minor workers from being assigned to it, not just a warning label.
3. Set up scheduling guardrails in your payroll and time system. Hour limits for 14- and 15-year-olds change between the school year and summer. Make sure your time and attendance system reflects the correct limits for the current period and enforces them before a shift is approved.
4. Keep detailed records for every minor employee. DOL audits request names, ages, addresses, and start and end times for every workday and meal period. If you can't produce these quickly, the audit goes longer.
5. Train managers before the season opens. Most violations happen because a manager didn't know a task was banned or approved an extra shift without checking the hour totals. Brief training at the start of the season, reinforced by system guardrails, catches most of this.
6. Consult legal counsel if you have unusual role types or multistate exposure. Some industries have fact-specific compliance questions that a general checklist won't resolve.

What are the federal hour restrictions for workers under 16?

During the school year, 14- and 15-year-olds may work no more than three hours on a school day, no more than 18 hours per week, and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. During summer breaks, the limits expand to eight hours per day, 40 hours per week, and until 9 p.m. Workers under 14 generally cannot be employed in FLSA-covered jobs at all.

What jobs are minors under 18 banned from doing under federal law?

All workers under 18 are prohibited from job duties classified as hazardous occupations under the FLSA. These include operating forklifts and heavy machinery, roofing, demolition, excavation, meatpacking, woodworking machines, work with explosives, and logging. Limited exemptions exist for 16- and 17-year-old apprentices and student learners in certain supervised settings.

Do state child labor laws override federal rules?

Not exactly. The FLSA sets a minimum standard. States can enact stricter rules, and employers must follow whichever law offers more protection to the minor worker. If a state sets tighter hour limits for 16- and 17-year-olds than federal law requires, the state limit governs. If a state is less restrictive than federal law in any area, federal law applies.

What records do employers need to keep for minor employees?

The DOL requires employers to maintain records that include each minor worker's name, age, and address, as well as start and end times for every workday and meal period. These records are subject to audit by the Wage and Hour Division and should be retained in a system that can produce them quickly on request.

Note: This information is for informational purposes only and does not constitute formal tax, legal, or compliance advice. Always consult with qualified tax advisors, legal counsel, and your organization's internal teams for guidance specific to your situation. Additional regulations may apply. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, refer to official government resources and regulatory agencies.