Prohibited Occupations for Non-Agricultural Employees
The child
labor rules that apply to non-agricultural employment depend on the age of the young
worker and the kind of job to be performed. 14 years old is the minimum age for
non-agricultural employment covered by the FLSA. In addition to restrictions on hours, the Secretary of Labor has found that certain jobs are too
hazardous for anyone under 18 years of age to perform. There are additional restrictions
on where and in what jobs 14-and 15-year-olds can work. These rules must be followed
unless one of the FLSA's child labor exemptions apply.
- A youth 18 years or older may perform any job, whether hazardous or
not.
- A youth 16 or 17 years old may perform any non-hazardous job. (See the
list of hazardous occupations below.)
- A youth 14 and 15 years old may not work in the
manufacturing or mining industries, or in any hazardous job. (See the list of hazardous
occupations below.) In addition, a 14- or 15-year-old may not work in the
following occupations:
- Communications or public utilities jobs;
- Construction or repair jobs;
- Driving a motor vehicle or helping a driver;
- Manufacturing and mining occupations;
- Power-driven machinery or hoisting apparatus other than typical office machines;
- Processing occupations;
- Public messenger jobs;
- Transporting of persons or property;
- Workrooms where products are manufactured, mined or processed;
- Warehousing and storage.
A 14- or 15-year-old may work in retail stores, food service establishments and
gasoline service stations. However, a 14- or 15-year-old may not
perform the following jobs in the retail and service industries:
- Baking;
- Boiler or engine room work, whether in or about;
- Cooking, except at soda fountains, lunch counters, snack bars, and cafeteria serving
counters;
- Freezers or meat coolers work;
- Loading or unloading goods on or off trucks, railcars or conveyors;
- Meat processing area work;
- Maintenance or repair of a building or its equipment;
- Operating, setting up, adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or repairing power-driven food
slicers, grinders, choppers or cutters and bakery mixers;
- Outside window washing, or work standing on a window sill, ladder, scaffold or similar
equipment;
- Warehouse work, except office and clerical work.
The jobs a 14- or 15-year-old may do in the retail and service industries
include:
- Bagging and carrying out customer's orders;
- Cashiering, selling, modeling, art work, advertising, window trimming, or comparative
shopping;
- Cleaning fruits and vegetables;
- Clean-up work and grounds maintenance - The young worker may use vacuums and floor
waxers, but he or she cannot use power-driven mowers, cutters, and trimmers;
- Delivery work by foot, bicycle, or public transportation;
- Kitchen and other work in preparing and serving food and drinks, but not cooking or
baking (see hazardous jobs);
- Office and clerical work;
- Pricing and tagging goods, assembling orders, packing, or shelving;
- Pumping gas, cleaning and polishing cars and trucks (but the young worker cannot repair
cars, use garage lifting rack, or work in pits);
- Wrapping, weighing, pricing, stocking any goods as long as the young worker does not
work where meat is being prepared and does not work in freezers or meat coolers.
Hazardous Occupations
18 is the minimum age for employment in non-agricultural occupations declared hazardous
by the Secretary of Labor. The rules prohibiting working in hazardous occupations (HO)
apply either on an industry basis, or on an occupational basis no matter what industry the
job is in. Parents employing their own children are subject to these same rules. Some of
these hazardous occupations have definitive exemptions. In addition, limited
apprentice/student-learner exemptions apply to those
occupations marked with an *.
These rules prohibit work in, or with the following:
|
HO #1
|
Manufacturing and storing of explosives.
|
|
HO #2
|
Driving a motor vehicle and being an outside
helper on a motor vehicle. |
|
HO #3
|
Coal mining.
|
|
HO #4
|
Logging and sawmilling.
|
* |
HO #5
|
Power-driven woodworking machines.
|
|
HO #6
|
Exposure to radioactive substances. |
|
HO #7
|
Power-driven hoisting apparatus.
|
* |
HO #8 |
Power-driven metal-forming, punching, and
shearing machines.
|
|
HO #9 |
Mining, other than coal mining.
|
* |
HO #10
|
Meat packing or processing (including the use
of power-driven meat slicing machines). |
|
HO #11 |
Power-driven bakery machines.
|
* |
HO #12 |
Power-driven paper-product machines.
|
|
HO #13 |
Manufacturing brick, tile, and related
products.
|
* |
HO #14 |
Power-driven circular saws, band saws, and
guillotine shears.
|
|
HO #15 |
Wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking
operations.
|
* |
HO #16 |
Roofing operations.
|
* |
HO #17 |
Excavation operations.
|
More detail about the above listings can be obtained by reviewing the child
labor regulations.
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