Employment of Children Under Eighteen Years of Age

Under certain circumstances, the University may hire children who are older than 14 years and younger than 18 years old. Children under 14 may not be employed in any capacity. This information is intended to provide an overview of major federal and state laws and regulations, and University policies restricting hiring children under 18.

Age-Related Restrictions

The employee may not:

  • work during regular school hours;
  • work more than 18 hours per week nor more than 3 hours per day when high school is in session;
  • work more than 40 hours per week nor more than 8 hours per day when high school is not in session;
  • work between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in any one day, except in the summer between June 1 and Labor Day, when the evening hour will be 9:00 p.m.; and,
  • perform hazardous duties (see below for details) and/or perform prohibited occupations outlined in the Fair Labor Standards Act 29 C.F.R. §570.33. Allowable occupations are outlined in the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 C.F.R. §570.34.

The employee may not:

  • work during regular school hours;
  • work more than 40 hours per week nor more than 8 hours per day when high school is not in session;
  • perform hazardous duties (see below for details).

Hazardous Work Restrictions

​​​​​​Employees under age 18 cannot perform non-agricultural hazardous work. Non-agricultural hazardous work includes but is not limited to:

  • Working in laboratories or other workplaces that have the following hazards present:
    • presence of chemical hazards that are present in concentrations above any OSHA level;
    • laboratories with a Chemical Hazard rating of CSL-2 or CSL-3;
    • laboratories that are approved for use, storage, or handling of radioactive materials;
    • laboratories with a Biological Safety rating of BSL-3 or BSL-4, or where CDC Select Agents are housed or handled;
    • workplaces or activities with a potential for exposure to infectious agents or blood borne pathogens.

Other examples of non-agricultural hazardous work includes but is not limited to:

  • driving a motor vehicle or being an outside helper in one except under limited circumstances;
  • working with or on any systems that require the use of lockout-tagout per OSHA standards;
  • working in an unprotected elevated location that requires personal fall arrest protection per OSHA standards (4 feet);
  • entry to any confined space as defined by OSHA standards;
  • exposure to high noise levels above the OSHA action level (85 dbA, 8 hours TWA), without hearing protectors;
  • working in a location where respiratory protection is required;
  • manufacturing/storing/working around explosives and explosive components (as defined by the ATF and including ammunition, black powder, blasting caps, fireworks, high explosives, primers and smokeless powder);
  • coal mining or other mining;
  • logging/saw milling and forestry services including forest firefighting;
  • using power-driven circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears;
  • using power-driven wood-working, hoisting, wood-working, metal-forming, punching, shearing, paper product, slicing, or baking machines;
  • meat packaging or processing;
  • manufacturing brick, tile or related products;
  • wrecking, demolition and ship breaking operations;
  • roofing operations; or,
  • any duties with exposure to a serious health or safety hazard.

If there is any potential that the assigned duties could be deemed hazardous, please contact Risk Management & Safety for clarification. Any exception to the listed restrictions must be approved in advance by Risk Management & Safety, and a copy of that approval sent to Human Resources.

In addition to the above, employees under age 16 cannot perform agricultural hazardous work. Agricultural hazardous work includes but is not limited to:

  • driving a bus, truck, or automobile when transporting passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper;
  • working from a ladder or scaffold (painting, repairing, or building structures, pruning trees, picking fruit, etc.) at a height of over 4 feet;
  • operating a tractor of over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting or disconnecting an implement or any of its parts to or from such a tractor;
  • operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines: corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, mobile pea viner, feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, or the unloading mechanism of a non-gravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer, power post-hole digger, power post driver, or non-walking type rotary tiller;
  • operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines: trencher or earthmoving equipment, fork lift, potato combine, or power-driven circular, band, or chain saw;
  • working on a farm in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; or sow with suckling pigs, or cow with newborn calf (with umbilical cord present);
  • felling, bucking, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with butt diameter of more than 6 inches;
  • working inside a fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen deficient or toxic atmosphere; an upright silo within 2 weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position; a manure pit; or a horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes;
  • handling or applying (including cleaning or decontaminating equipment, disposal or return of empty containers, or serving as a flagman for aircraft applying) agricultural chemicals classified under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 135 et seq.) as Category I of toxicity, identified by the word "poison" and the "skull and crossbones" on the label; or Category II of toxicity, identified by the word "warning" on the label;
  • handling or using a blasting agent, including but not limited to, dynamite, black powder, sensitized ammonium nitrate, blasting caps, and primer cord; or
  • transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.

If there is any potential that the assigned duties could be deemed hazardous, please contact Risk Management & Safety for clarification. Any exception to the listed restrictions must be approved in advance by Risk Management & Safety, and a copy sent to Human Resources.

Driving Restrictions

Under the University's Fleet Safety Policy, employees under age 18 are not permitted to drive on University business. For information on driving qualifications for employees 18 and over, please refer to Risk Management & Safety

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