Child labor laws protect children from exploitation by employers. They help ensure children's safety in the workplace and keep employers from scheduling children to work during school hours. Wage and hour laws that regulate children in the workplace vary by state, but, in some circumstances, there are exceptions to federal child labor laws.
Children who work for their parents or other relatives in a family business, including a family farm, are not subject to some labor laws. A family business generally does not have to pay Social Security tax, federal unemployment tax or Medicare tax on the wages of its minor family members. The Fair Labor Standards Act doesn't apply to family businesses, so parents don't have to comply with the FLSA's wage-and-hour restrictions. These exemptions give parents the flexibility to allow young children to help out in the family business without having to worry about violating child labor laws.
The general age limit under the FLSA is age 14, and children under 14 cannot work for pay. However, certain occupations are exempt from the FLSA age limit. In the entertainment industry, for example, children younger than 14 are permitted to work as performers in television, radio and theater. They can also deliver newspapers to residential customers and do occasional babysitting. Young children can also work at home, gathering natural evergreen materials, such as pine boughs and pine cones, and making wreaths out of them.
Youth Work Programs
The FLSA does not allow employers to schedule 14- and 15-year-old children at work during school hours. Federally sponsored youth work programs are are exceptions to this rule. For example, the Work Experience and Career Education Program is a two-year apprenticeship program designed to prepare students for the real-life working world and help them stay motivated in school. The Work-Study Program helps college-bound children in preparatory schools pursue their college diplomas. Both programs allow children to work during school hours for employers that participate in the program.
Safety is the primary concern of employers that hire children. The FLSA prohibits employers from assigning dangerous work to 14- and 15-year-old children, even when they're working in a family business. These young teens may not do construction work or work that requires them to climb ladders or scaffolding. They may not work in mining or manufacturing or any of the other 17 occupations that the FLSA considers hazardous. State law may prohibit other types of work by 14- and 15-year- old minors. For example, many states regulate door-to-door sales by minors because they view the job as a hazardous occupation.
- SBA.gov: Running a Small Business Within the Law
- United States Department of Labor: Exemptions from Child Labor Rules in Non-Agriculture
- United States Department of Labor: Fact Sheet #38
- United States Department of Labor: Fact Sheet #37
- United States Department of Labor: State Regulation of For-profit Door-to-door Sales by Minors
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