Federal hour restrictions for working minors apply in full force only to 14- and 15-year-olds: 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 non-school week, with all shifts falling between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (extended to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day).1eCFR. 29 CFR 570.35 – Hours of Work and Conditions of Employment Permitted for Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age Once a minor turns 16, the federal hour caps and time-of-day windows disappear entirely.2eCFR. 29 CFR 570.2 – Minimum Age Standards The rules come from the Fair Labor Standards Act and are enforced by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
Hour and Time-of-Day Limits for 14- and 15-Year-Olds
This is the age group federal scheduling rules are built around, and the caps are specific. During any week when school is in session, a 14- or 15-year-old can work no more than 3 hours on a school day and no more than 18 hours total for the week. When school is out, the ceilings rise to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.1eCFR. 29 CFR 570.35 – Hours of Work and Conditions of Employment Permitted for Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age
What counts as a “school week” trips up employers. Any week in which school is in session for even part of one day is a school week. A Monday holiday does not convert a five-day school week into a non-school week, and the tighter 18-hour cap still controls.
The time-of-day rule runs alongside the hour cap and is just as enforceable. Shifts must fall between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. during the school year. From June 1 through Labor Day, the evening cutoff pushes back to 9 p.m.1eCFR. 29 CFR 570.35 – Hours of Work and Conditions of Employment Permitted for Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age Work during school hours is prohibited outright. A schedule that keeps a 15-year-old inside the daily and weekly totals but starts them at 6 a.m. or runs them until 8 p.m. in April is still a violation.
Work-Study and Career Exploration Programs
Minors enrolled in school-supervised work-experience, career-exploration, or work-study programs can qualify for modified hour rules, including work during school hours or beyond the usual daily caps.1eCFR. 29 CFR 570.35 – Hours of Work and Conditions of Employment Permitted for Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age The program has to be formally structured and school-supervised. Without that documented arrangement, the standard limits apply in full.
What Changes at 16
Federal hour and schedule rules are essentially a 14–15 regime. Once a minor turns 16, the FLSA imposes no cap on daily hours, no cap on weekly hours, no time-of-day window, and no prohibition on working during school hours.2eCFR. 29 CFR 570.2 – Minimum Age Standards A 16-year-old can legally work a 50-hour week with overnight shifts as far as federal law is concerned.
What remains for 16- and 17-year-olds is not a scheduling restriction but a job-content one: 17 categories of hazardous non-agricultural work stay off-limits until 18, covering areas like roofing, demolition, mining, power-driven woodworking or metalworking machines, and exposure to radioactive substances.3eCFR. 29 CFR Part 570 – Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation Those are boundaries on assignments, not on hours.
Driving as Part of the Job at 17
Driving is generally classified as hazardous work, but 17-year-olds can drive on the job under a narrow exception. The driving has to be occasional and incidental — no more than one-third of the workday and no more than 20 percent of the workweek. All driving must occur during daylight hours. The worker must hold a valid state license, have completed state-approved driver education, and have no moving violations at the time of hire. The vehicle cannot exceed 6,000 pounds gross weight, and the worker cannot drive beyond a 30-mile radius from the workplace or make more than two delivery trips per day. Route deliveries such as pizza delivery, time-sensitive trips, and transporting more than three passengers are all prohibited.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 34: Hazardous Occupations Order No. 2 – Youth Employment Provision and Driving Automobiles and Trucks Under the FLSA
The daylight and occasional-use requirements are, in practice, the federal government’s only real time-of-day and hour restrictions on a 17-year-old.
Agricultural Work Runs on Different Hours
Farm work operates under a separate framework. Children as young as 12 or 13 can work on farms outside of school hours with parental consent, or on any farm that also employs their parent.5U.S. Department of Labor. Agricultural Jobs – 12-13 Children under 12 can work on farms owned or operated by their parents. At 14, a minor can perform any non-hazardous farm work. Hazardous agricultural tasks stay off-limits under 16, with an exception for children working on their parents’ farm.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions
The critical constraint in agriculture is the school-hours prohibition. For a home-schooled minor or one attending private school, “school hours” are defined by the schedule of the public school district where the minor lives while working.5U.S. Department of Labor. Agricultural Jobs – 12-13 An employer cannot dodge the restriction by pointing to a different school calendar.
Breaks and the Federal Silence
A frequent assumption is that federal law forces employers to give working minors a meal break or rest period. It does not. The FLSA does not require breaks for any worker, regardless of age.7U.S. Department of Labor. Breaks and Meal Periods When employers offer short breaks of 5 to 20 minutes, those count as paid work time. Meal periods of 30 minutes or more generally do not count as work time when the employee is fully relieved of duties. Many states impose their own break rules for minors, and those often fill the space federal law leaves empty.
State Law Can Tighten the Schedule
The FLSA is a floor, not a ceiling. The statute explicitly preserves any state or local rule that sets a higher standard for child labor.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 218 – Relation to Other Laws In practice, the stricter rule always applies. If a state limits 16-year-olds to shifts ending at 10 p.m. on school nights, the employer must follow that limit even though federal law imposes no time-of-day window at that age. If a state would allow 14-year-olds to work until 9:30 p.m. year-round, the federal 7 p.m. cutoff (or 9 p.m. in summer) still controls.
State variations matter most for the age group federal law leaves alone. Many states impose daily hour caps on 16- and 17-year-olds, restrict late-night shifts on school nights, or require rest breaks. Any employer building a schedule for a minor should confirm both sets of rules before the shift is posted.
Penalties for Scheduling a Minor Outside Permitted Hours
Civil penalties for child labor violations can reach $16,035 for each minor who was the subject of a violation.9U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments Where a violation causes the death or serious injury of a worker under 18, the ceiling rises to $72,876 per violation, doubling to $145,752 when the violation is willful or repeated.10eCFR. 29 CFR Part 579 – Child Labor Violations – Civil Money Penalties These figures adjust annually for inflation.
The Department of Labor regularly cites employers, particularly in food service and retail, for scheduling minors outside permitted hours. Willful violations of the FLSA can also carry criminal penalties: fines up to $10,000 and up to six months in jail, with mandatory imprisonment for repeat offenders.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties A schedule that puts a 15-year-old on a 7 p.m.–10 p.m. Tuesday shift in October is not a paperwork problem. It’s the kind of violation Wage and Hour investigators look for first.