FLSA - Child Labor Rules

Since your child is younger than 16, you are prohibited from employing him or her in manufacturing or mining. You are also prohibited from employing him or her in any of the occupations declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. The occupations declared hazardous by the Secretary are listed on the following page. However, with the exception of manufacturing, mining and hazardous occupations, youth of any age may be employed by their parent at any time of the day and for any number of hours.

While you are prohibited from employing your child in manufacturing or mining occupations, the child labor rules do allow you to employ your own child in a manufacturing workroom provided the child is not specifically engaged in a manufacturing or hazardous occupation.

"To manufacture" means to make anything from raw materials by hand or by machinery or by art. Any occupation involved in the manufacture of a product from the assembling of the raw materials for manufacture to the completion of the manufactured article is a part of the manufacturing process, and, therefore, a manufacturing occupation.

Fair Labor Standards Act Section 13(c)(7) creates a limited exemption from the youth employment provisions for certain minors 14 through 17 years of age who are excused from compulsory school attendance beyond the eighth grade. This exemption allows eligible youth to be employed inside and outside of businesses that use machinery to process wood products (such as sawmills, furniture manufacturers, garden shed and gazebo manufacturers, cabinet makers and pallet shops) with some restrictions, but does not allow them to operate or assist in the operation of power-driven woodworking machinery.

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