Federal vs. State Child Labor Rules
Hiring a student worker for the summer brings its own compliance weight. Federal law sets a floor for how many hours 14- to 17-year-olds can work, what they can be paid, and which jobs are off-limits entirely. The catch: your state almost always has stricter rules that override the federal baseline whenever they conflict.
California, for instance, restricts 16- and 17-year-olds to eight hours per day and 48 hours per week during school breaks, even though federal law permits unlimited hours for that age bracket when school is out. If you're hiring in California, you follow California's tighter caps, not the federal rule.
The principle is simple: employers must always comply with the more restrictive standard. Whether federal or state.
Missing the state-versus-federal rule is one of the costliest mistakes small employers make with student labor—and it's completely avoidable once you know which standard applies.
Hour Limits and Scheduling Rules
Federal law sets clear maximums for how many hours students can work, and the rules pivot on two factors: the worker's age and whether school is in session.
For 14- and 15-year-olds during the school year, federal law caps work at 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours per school week total. During summer break, when there's no school, they can work 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. Once school resumes—typically the first week of September 2026 in most districts—your scheduling template must drop from full summer shifts to the 3-hour weekday ceiling.
Workers aged 16 and 17 have more flexibility under federal law—no weekly cap, and they can work 8 hours on a school day. But here's where state law kicks in and often tightens the rules. They can work 8 hours on a school day and longer shifts on weekends. But many states impose stricter limits.
California bans 16- and 17-year-olds from working more than 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week during the school year. New York caps school-day work at 4 hours for 16-year-olds when school is in session. Massachusetts prohibits anyone under 18 from working past 10 p.m. on a school night. Before you schedule, confirm your state's ceiling—then apply the stricter of the two standards.
Compliant July–September framework: Hire a 14-year-old for 20 hours per week during July and August (four 5-hour shifts), then reduce to 15 hours weekly once school starts (three 3-hour weekday shifts plus a 6-hour Saturday).
Violation example: Scheduling that same 14-year-old for a 4-hour Tuesday shift in mid-September triggers immediate overtime liability and a recordkeeping penalty, even if the total weekly hours stay under 18. Every shift on a school day must respect the 3-hour limit—no rounding up, no "just this once." Miss the cutoff, and back-wage claims follow quickly.
Hazardous Job Restrictions
The Department of Labor keeps a clear list of jobs 14- to 17-year-olds cannot do, no matter how skilled they are or how much their parents agree. For workers aged 14–15, the ban covers mining, manufacturing, hazardous-materials handling, and operation of power equipment including forklifts, box crushers, and commercial mixers.
Students aged 16–17 may work in broader job categories but remain barred from roofing, forestry, excavation work, and operation of most power-driven machinery.
Common violations PayDayPuffin's HR audience encounters include:
- Assigning a 15-year-old to forklift operation in a warehouse
- Placing a 16-year-old on a retail roof for HVAC maintenance
- Tasking minors with chemical mixing in a cleaning or pest-control setting
- Permitting a student to operate a commercial slicer in a deli
- Scheduling a 14-year-old for yard work that requires a power mower
Each of these triggers absolute liability.
Quick Hazard Check
If a job involves work at heights above six feet, power tools or machinery, chemical handling beyond basic cleaning supplies, or sustained exposure to heat above 95°F, it is almost certainly prohibited for workers under 16.
Review each planned assignment against the DOL's Hazardous Occupations Orders before finalizing summer schedules.
Minimum Wage and Pay Rules
There's a federal quirk many employers get wrong: you can pay a 14- or 15-year-old below the federal minimum wage for their first 90 calendar days—but only once, only for the first 90 days, and only if they're under 16. After that 90-day window closes, the minimum wage rules apply from then on, no resetting, no new roles that restart the clock.
Once an employee turns 16, they must receive the applicable federal or state minimum wage from their next paycheck forward, with no transition period.
Most states set their minimum wage higher than federal, and you have to follow your state's number from day one. Several states—including California, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, and Oregon—have established their own wage floors that exceed the federal baseline. A handful of states, including Texas and Georgia, continue to defer to the federal standard.
A 15-year-old hired in Texas earns $7.25 per hour for a 120-hour summer, which totals $870 gross. The same teenager in California earns $20.00 per hour for those same hours—$2,400 gross. That's not a coincidence.
To stay compliant: always pay the higher of federal or state minimum, check the employee's age and hire date, and use the 90-day subminimum rule only when both conditions apply. Misclassification or underpayment triggers wage-and-hour claims that accumulate back wages, penalties, and legal fees faster than any labor-cost savings.
Student Labor Laws and Regulations: State-by-State Compliance Variations
Federal rules set the floor, but states routinely raise it. Follow the FLSA alone and you'll miss the stricter requirements that actually apply to your payroll. California, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois impose hour limits and wage floors stricter than the federal baseline. And each requires its own compliance track when you hire students across state lines.
California limits 14–15-year-olds to 3 hours on school days and 8 hours on non-school days (matching federal), but mandates a $20.00 minimum wage in 2026 and requires work permits issued by the school district. Hazardous-job bans include any power-driven equipment, even with supervision.
New York restricts 14–15-year-olds to 3 hours on school days, caps 16–17-year-olds at 28 hours per week during school and 48 hours in summer, requires working papers filed with the school, and sets a $15.00 minimum wage.
Massachusetts imposes a 6-day workweek cap for all minors, an 18-hour school-week limit for 14–15-year-olds, and a $15.00 minimum wage with parental consent forms on file.
Illinois caps 14–15-year-olds at 24 hours per week during school and 48 in summer, requires a state-issued work certificate, and enforces a $15.00 minimum wage.
If your payroll covers employees in multiple states, you must run parallel compliance tracks: separate hour ceilings, separate wage rates, separate permit files. Missing a single permit or exceeding a single state's weekly cap triggers liability in that jurisdiction, regardless of federal compliance elsewhere.
July-to-September Hiring Timeline
Hiring students for summer and into the fall requires a calendar-driven compliance plan.
In July, students have no school obligations, which means federal child labor law allows ages 16 and older to work up to 40 hours per week—or more in certain states—and ages 14–15 can work 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. This is the moment to recruit, onboard, and schedule full shifts before school resumes.
August brings the first compliance transition. Some districts reopen in mid-August, and the moment a student returns to school, hour limits snap into place. Employers must track school start dates district by district, flag which students are affected, and adjust schedules before the first day of class. A payroll system that auto-enforces hour caps by employee age and date range prevents over-limit shifts from reaching approval.
September is the full shift to school-year rules. Ages 14–15 drop to a maximum of 3 hours on school days, and ages 16–17 face state-specific caps that often replace the unlimited federal allowance.
Your compliance checklist should include: adjusting weekly schedules for each affected employee, running a payroll audit to flag any remaining full-day shifts, and communicating the new limits directly to student workers so they understand the change.
This is exactly the kind of compliance detail that can slip through manual scheduling. PayDayPuffin Payroll handles student hour limits automatically once you set the school calendar—so when September hits, your system enforces the 3-hour school-day cap without manual flagging. See how it works for your team.
Compliance Checklist and Next Steps
Before you schedule the first shift, work through this five-step compliance sequence:
- Verify State Rules. Check your state labor department website for minimum wage, hour caps, and work-permit requirements—California, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois all exceed federal standards, and your payroll must reflect the stricter ceiling.
- Classify Jobs as Hazardous or Safe. Audit each planned assignment against DOL Hazardous Occupations Orders: no forklifts, no roofing, no power tools for workers under 18, regardless of supervisor experience or parental consent.
- Set Pay Rates. Configure your payroll system with the higher of federal or state minimum wage from day one; the 90-day subminimum expires automatically and you cannot restart it.
- Configure Time-Tracking for Hour Limits. Program your platform to flag shifts exceeding 3 hours on school days for 14–15-year-olds and to reduce weekly ceilings the week school resumes.
- Train Managers on School-Calendar Transitions. Brief supervisors in mid-August on the September cutback and run a payroll-compliance review every quarter during July through September to catch violations before they compound.
Student payroll rules are strict, but they're predictable once you know them. Student labor compliance shouldn't require a binder full of state rules. PayDayPuffin Payroll handles the state-by-state rules for you—age caps, wage floors, permit tracking—all built into your payroll process. Get started with a guided setup for student workers.