The Minimum Age to Work in Minnesota
By general law, the minimum age for employment in Minnesota is age 14. 14 is also the minimum age for obtaining a work permit from a school counselor. The exception to this general rule is for performers such as actors, models and similar artists. These performers can obtain an entertainment work permit as low as age 13 . There are also restrictions on the types of work that each category of minor is allowed to perform based on the age of the minor; as well as on the hours that the minor may work. Parents or guardians may not exempt their child from these requirements either. These requirements are discussed further in the following sections. There are also industry specific exceptions to the 14 years of age general rule so please check the appropriate section of this blog for exceptions by occupation.
Hours Minors Can Work in Minnesota
In Minnesota, children between ages 14 and 17 may not work during school hours. However, 14 to 15-year-olds may work outside of school hours no more than three hours per day and no more than 18 hours per week, unless they are working for a parent or guardian on privately owned non-farm jobs. Young adults 16 to 17 years of age may work no more than 40 hours in a week. Minor workers are allowed more working hours outside of school hours during summer vacation and school holidays, but they must be given at least 8 hours of consecutive, uninterrupted off-duty time within each 24-hour period, as long as the minor requests and receives that time. Overall, minors may not work more than 40 hours in one week. They may work later hours if one of three conditions is true: 12 a.m. is not more than two hours after the end of the schedule in their written agreement, the nature of the work requires operations outside the home, or the work occurs outside the school district where the minor has a school session. 14-year-olds who are participating in a career orientation or work experience program that is state approved can work for more hours and under more flexible conditions than other minors. 14-year-olds working in this type of program may not exceed 40 hours per week when school is not in session. The program will have hours restrictions and guidelines set by the approving state agency and the local school board.
Minor Work Permits
Before a minor under the age of 18 can legally work in Minnesota, they must apply for and receive a work permit. An exception would be if the company where minor intends to work is not covered by the Minnesota Child Labor Standards and Acts. Covered companies, most companies, must ensure that each minor employed possesses a valid work permit before they begin employment. Some states refer to the permit as a "work permit to work." However, Minnesota refers to the legal document as an "employment certificate."
Obtaining a work permit is not the responsibility of the employer. The minor and his or her parent(s) or guardian(s) must obtain the work permit. In fact, it is unlawful for the employer to sign or approve the application for work permit for the minor.
The application for minor employment certificate (with notes to employers) must be obtained from an issuing officer. Issuing officers are located at county offices, school administrative offices, and school district offices. It is recommended that an appointment be set to apply for the employment certificate.
Issuing offices may require certain information and documents to be presented to process the application for employment certificate. Commonly required information and documents include:
An issuing officer may ask the minor to appear in person when the employment certificate application is filed. After the work permit application has been submitted, the issuing officer must approve or reject the permit within 72 hours. If it is rejected, the permit will state a reason for the rejection.
Clearly, employers must take great care when employing minors. Additionally, employers must obtain a new employment certificate if the minor changes jobs or employers.
Jobs that Minors Can’t Perform
Certain kinds of work are considered to be hazardous to the health and well-being of minors. The Minnesota statutes try to protect children from such jobs by expressly prohibiting them from taking positions in dangerous industries. These occupations include driving a motorized vehicle, using certain kinds of farming equipment, working with hazardous chemicals, and working in construction or demolition, among others. Below is a representative list of prohibited occupations for young workers:
Manufacturing and Mineing: work in quarrying, logging, sawmilling, mining, working on roofs, wrecking, underground work, tunneling, excavating, trenching, heavy wrecking, demolition, blasting, and junk dealing
Construction: demolition or sale of construction materials, operating power-driven hoisting apparatus, laundries, machine shops, tar paving, regulation of elevators, bolting machines, operating circular or band saws, setting up and dismembering moving belts or chains, operating steam shovels, power-driven cranes, hoisting engines, bulldozers, pumps, and compressors
Material Handling: work on cranes, elevators, non-automatic freight or passenger elevators and hoists, unprotected belts, machinery, and gears; operating saws, wood shapers, jointers, planers, chippers, wood polishing or scrapping machines; operating power-driven food grinders and choppers; scraping, cleaning or dipping metal parts in baths of acid, caustic or salt solutions or petroleum-based wait; operating circular saws or guillotines; iron and steel mills; work involving contact with an electric generating or transmission facility; working on warehouse trucks, railroad trucks and stationaries, non-manually powered hand trucks, non-manually powered sheet-lifting equipment, and non-manually powered hand fire trucks
Agriculture: operating aids to navigation; operating twisting machines, paper weighing machines, power fanning machines, and non-manual cotton, fiber, and hay-extracting equipment; operating power-driven edgers, banders, clod crushers, hammer mills, pulverizers, and roller mills; brick production; work in quarries, brick yards, cement works, clay works, and potteries
Operations, maintenance, repair, or adjustment of machinery or equipment: operating, cleaning, adjusting, oiling, greasing, wrecking, wrecking machines, or excavating equipment; work on live electrical wires or conduits; work in outdoor hot-topping operations, sandblasting, operating heating equipment in structural steel coating or steam cleaning systems; work on roofs of buildings in the course of an insulation operation
Manufacturing, constructing, servicing, repairing, and salvaging: work in structural pre-cast and tilt-up concrete erection, exposed vibrating tools, noise exceeding 85 decibels
Processing, storing or transporting agricultural products: work involving exposure to fungal agricultural compounds such as those produced by mushrooms
Food processing, bakery, or laundry occupations
Communications: trades involving repair, fabrication, cleaning, or servicing of radios, televisions, electrical repair, sound recording, or communications equipment; working on live circuits or combinations of lump wires, stripping rubber insulation, or operating saws, cleaning, adjusting, oiling, greasing, wrecking, wrecking machines, or excavating equipment
Public Utilities: work involving public utilities except in clerical and office work .
Traffic Industry: work involving streets and highway construction or repair; work on sidewalks; work in drainage, power station, railway, telephone, cable, or electric light construction
Exposed Workers: work involving exposure of dusts, gases, mists, vapors, fumes, or liquids in excess of threshold limit values
Demolition, wrecking, blasting: work on or in chimneys, smokestacks, silos, grain elevators, pits, shafts, tunnels, or in any other excavation.
Young Worker Protections and Rights
In Minnesota, the legal age to work is 14 years, according to the MN Department of Employment and Economic Development. Minors aged 14 and 15 are required to obtain a work permit and may not work before 7 a.m. or after 9 p.m. during the school year and may not work before 7 a.m. or after 11 p.m. during the summer months. During school hours when students are expected to be in class, there are further restrictions on the hours they are allowed to work.
16- and 17-year-olds can work longer hours, but still must abide by certain restrictions if they are attending classes. Minors are allowed to work more hours on non-school days and during non-school weeks.
In addition to these restrictions, Minnesota labor laws also set a minimum wage that employers must pay their employees. Non-exempt employees, including many minors, are entitled to a minimum wage of at least $10.33 per hour. For employees who earn enough in tips to make up the difference, the minimum cash wage is $8.42 per hour. By law, tips belong to the employee and cannot be taken — either completely or partially — by an employer as a credit towards the minimum wage. All minors must be paid at least the state minimum wage regardless of their position or job duties.
Overtime laws also apply to minors and require employers to pay 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours worked over 48 in a workweek. Some employers are exempt from paying overtime based on the type of business and the nature of the job. Certain occupations, such as farm laborers, are not subject to overtime. The duties and responsibilities of the position are what ultimately determine if the individual qualifies for overtime or not. This is regardless of the job’s title or what the hiring manager calls the position. Some employers may choose to pay salaried employees overtime, even if it is not required by law.
Retaliation, harassment, wrongful termination and other claims are allowed for minors under Minnesota law, just as they are for adult employees. Generally speaking, employers may not terminate or discipline an employee for an activity protected by the law. Protected activities include communicating with government representatives about possible violations of the law, filing complaints of harassment or discrimination or refusing to participate in those types of activities. If an employer retaliates against the employee, the employer can be found liable for punitive damages and lost income damages.
There are more factors that go into determining if there is causation between an employee’s actions and the employer’s actions. A dismissed complaint to OSHA, a whistleblower complaint or a report of sexual harassment may be retaliation if the employee was terminated shortly after reporting the activity. However, if the employer points to evidence of the employee being tardy or having a bad attitude, making it impossible for them to perform their job as the reason for dismissal, then that might and should defeat the claim of retaliation.
Young Workers Resources
For detailed information about the legal age to work in Minnesota, there are many useful resources available for both young workers and parents. There are federal, state, and local government resources. There are also organizations that deal specifically with the safety and health of young workers. These resources include: By making a phone call or sending an email to these government offices, young workers and their families will be able to get more information on the specifics of the legal age to work in Minnesota, including possible exemptions, and can obtain information about what to do if there are allegations of child labor law violations .
A few organizations specifically for youth that focus on safe and healthy work are: These organizations deal with numerous aspects of youth and young adult leadership in the workplace, and are a good starting point for getting help and services for workforce participation at a young age.
Not only can these resources help young workers to understand the legal age to work in Minnesota, but also other aspects of child labor law, including workplace safety and health issues.
