A Thorough Review of the Child Labor Laws is Suggested Before Hiring a Minor authored by Jerome A. Brown

Texas Child Labor Laws restrict the hours children may work and the types of jobs they may hold in order to ensure that a child is not employed in an occupation or manner that is detrimental to the child's safety, health, or well being.

Employers may not employ a child under 14 years of age, except in the following job categories: (a) Motion picture, theatrical, television, or radio performers. (b) family businesses, in a non-hazardous occupation and under the direct supervision of the child's parent or an adult having custody of the child, and in a business enterprises owned and operated by the parent or custodian. (c) A newspaper boy or girl delivering newspapers to the consumer. (d) A school-sponsored and school-administered work-study program, approved by the Texas Workforce Commission. (e) In agriculture when a child is not legally required to attend school. (f) Juvenile rehabilitation program supervised by a county judge. (g) Non-hazardous casual employment that will not endanger the safety, health, or well being of the child, to which the parent or adult having custody of the child has consented.

A child under 14 years of age may also be exempt from the restrictions on hours worked if he or she can prove a hardship. The child must obtain a certification of age and file a hardship application with the Texas Workforce Commission grants the application, the child will be granted a one-year exemption from the hours restrictions.

Minors 14 and 15 years of age are prohibited from working more than an 8-hour day or a 48 hour week, and are prohibited from working between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. during the school year, on days preceding school days. However, during summer recess and on days not preceding a school day, minors 14 and 15 years of age are prohibited from working between midnight and 5 a.m.

The Texas Workforce Commission may restrict the employment of minors 14 and 15 years of age or older in occupations declared hazardous by other commissions or federal government agencies.

In addition, it is hazardous for a minor under 14 years of age to sell items or services or solicit donations for any person other than an exempt organization, such as charities or clubs, or business owned or operated by a parent, conservator, guardian, or other person who has the possession of the minor under court order, unless the minor is accompanied by a parent, conservator, guardian, or such other person.

An employer may not hire a minor under the age of 18 to sell, prepare, serve, or otherwise handle liquor, or to assist in doing so. A person commits a Class A misdemeanor if he or she employs, authorizes, or induces a minor under 17 years of age to engage in "sexually-oriented commercial activity," or to work in a place of business permitting, requesting, or requiring the minor to work nude or topless.

If you are contemplating hiring a minor, a thorough review of the child labor laws is in order to assure that inadvertent infractions do not occur.

Federal Child Labor Laws, like State Child Labor Laws contain many restrictions. Child labor laws are most likely to by enforced by the federal government. This article is a review of some of the more important issues employers must be aware of when employing minors.

Federal Child Labor Laws

1. Child labor laws are most likely to be enforced by the federal government.

(a) Minors ages 16 and 17 are prohibited from working in the occupations declared particularly hazardous by the Secretary of Labor as listed below:

• Occupations in or about plants or establishments manufacturing or storing explosives or articles containing explosive components.
• Occupations of motor-vehicle driver and outside helper.
• Coal-mine occupations.
• Logging occupations and occupations in the operation of any sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or cooperage stock mill.
• Occupations involved in the operating of power-driven wood-working machines.
• Exposure to radioactive substances and to ionizing radiations.
• Occupations involved in the operations of power-driven hoisting apparatus.
• Occupations involved in the operations of power-driven metal forming, punching and shearing machines.
• Occupations in connection with mining, other than coal.
• Occupations in the operation of power-driven meat-processing machines and occupations involving slaughtering, meat-packing or processing, or rendering.
• Occupations involved in the operation of bakery machines.
• Occupations involved in the operation of paper-products machines.
• Occupations involved in the manufacturing of brick, tile and kindred products.
• Occupations involved in the operations of circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears.
• Occupations involved in wrecking, demolition and shipwrecking operations.
• Occupations in roofing operations.
• Occupations in excavation operations.

(b) Minors ages 14 and 15 are restricted from employment as follows:

(1) The 17 occupations listed above;

(2) Many more prohibited occupations; and

(3) Hours and time standards

(c) Minors under 14 cannot be employed except in certain instances.

(d) The Texas Workforce Commission has adopted by reference these federal regulations.

2. Enforcement: Fines up to $10,000 per minor in violation.

Federal Minimum Wage

1. Pursuant to the Minimum Wage Increase Act of 1996, the current federal minimum wage rate, as established by the Fair Labor Standards Act, is $5.15 per hour.

2. "Opportunity" Wage for Youth: the Fair Labor Standards Act establishes a subminimum "opportunity" wage of $4.25 per hour for employees under 20 years of age that applies during the first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment with an employer. An employer may not displace an employee in order to hire a youth at the subminimum hare. Nor may an employer partially displace an older employee by reducing his or her hours, wages, or employment benefits.

3. Trainees: The Fair Labor Standards Act distinguishes between "employees," who are covered by the Act, and "trainees," who are not. For an employer to categorize an individual as a "trainee," and thereby avoid minimum wage requirements for that individual, the employer must demonstrate: