Employing Minors
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If you are unsure whether a duty can be performed by a minor or if an hour restriction applies, always contact Human Resources for help.
This page is a guide to the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which apply to minors employed in non-agricultural positions. The FLSA regulates the minimum age and maximum hours of employment in certain occupations. The FLSA cites different standards for the employment of minors who are 14 and 15 years old and for minors who are 16 and 17 years old. Appropriate payroll and child labor forms must be completed by all parties and submitted to Human Resources prior to the minor beginning work. Completed child labor forms and proof of age documents may be faxed to 208-885-3602.
Working hours for minors 14 and 15 years old are restricted to the following periods of employment in any of the qualified occupations: (29 C.F.R. 570.35(a)) when school is in session:
- not more than 18 hours in any one week
- not more than 3 hours on a school day
- outside school hours
- between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. in any one day, except during the summer (June 1 - Labor Day) when the evening hour will be 9 p.m. when school is not in session:
- not more than 40 hours in any one week
- not more than 8 hours in any one day.
Working hours for minors at least 16 years old are not restricted.
According to 29 C.F.R. 570.33, minors 14 and 15 years old are not permitted to work in occupations that involve:
- duties declared off-limits to minors between 16 and 17 years of age, such as the performance of any duties (except for office or sales work) on trains, motor vehicles, aircraft, vessels or other modes of transportation;
- manufacturing, mining, or processing occupations, including those occupations requiring the performance of duties in work places where goods are manufactured, mined, or otherwise processed;
- the operation or tending of hoisting apparatus or of any power-driven machinery other than office machines;
- the operation of motor vehicles or service as helpers on such vehicles;
- public messenger service;
- transportation of persons or property by rail, highway, air, water, pipeline, or other means;
- warehousing and storage;
- communications and public utilities;
- construction (including demolition and repair);
- work performed in or about boiler or engine rooms;
- work in connection with maintenance or repair of the establishment, machines or equipment;
- outside window washing that involves working from window sills,and all work requiring use of ladders, scaffolds or their substitutes;
- loading and unloading goods to and from trucks, railroad cars or conveyors.
An employee must be 18 years of age to work in any non-agricultural occupation declared by the Secretary of Labor to be hazardous to the health or well-being of minors. Minors 16 and 17 cannot work in occupations that involve:
- driving a motor vehicle or helping outside on any public road or highway, except if the vehicle does not exceed 6,000 pounds and driving is incidental (not essential) and occasional to the minor’s employment and restricted to daylight hours, and the minor has completed a state approved driver education course and holds a state license valid for the type of driving being performed. In addition, the vehicle must have a seat belt or similar device for both the driver and any helper and the minor(s) must have been instructed in the use of these devices. These exceptions do not apply to any occupations that involve driving or towing vehicles or driving in or around any mine (including open pit or quarry), logging or sawmill operations in progress, or excavation areas of any type.
- operating power-driven woodworking machines, including supervising or controlling the operation of and feeding or helping the operator feed material into such machines, but not including the placing of material on a moving chair or in a hopper or slide for automatic feeding.
- operating an elevator, crane, derrick, hoist or high lift truck, with the exception of an unattended automatic passenger elevator or an electric or air operated hoist not exceeding one ton capacity.
- assisting crane hookers, crane chasers, hookers on riggers, rigger helpers and like occupations with the operation of a crane, derrick or hoist.
- riding on a manlift or freight elevator, except on a freight elevator operated by an assigned operator. Operating automatic elevators and automatic signal elevators is allowed provided the elevators meet all safety requirements of 29 C. F.R. 570.58 (c).
- operating or helping to operate (including setting-up, adjusting, repairing, oiling or cleaning) the following power-driven fixed or portable machines: circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears), except machines equipped with full automatic feed and ejection.
- working in wrecking, demolishing and shipwrecking operations.
- working in roofing operations.
- excavating, including working in or backfilling (refilling) trenches, except manually excavating and backfilling or working in trenches that do not exceed four feet in depth at any point.
- excavating for buildings or other structures or working in such excavations, except manually excavating or working to a depth not to exceed four feet below any ground surface adjoining the excavation or in any excavation where the side walls are shored or sloped to the angle of repose.
- working in tunnels prior to the completion of all driving and shoring operations, and working in shafts prior to the completion of all sinking and shoring operations.