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Summary of differences between federal and state regulations
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Bureau of Safety and Regulation, Wage and Hour Division administers the child labor laws.
Work age
Youths must be:
- No age specified for baby sitting, working for parents, entertainment, and modeling
- 11 for newspaper carriers, athletic program referees and umpires with parental consent and if an adult is present
- 12 for farm work outside of school hours
- 14 for most non-hazardous jobs
- 15 for driving on parent’s farm (restricted farm license)
- 16 for most jobs involving machine operation
- 18 for all other jobs
Work hours
Youths 14 or older may work:
- 7 am to 9 pm (no morning restrictions for newspaper carriers)
- 8 hours/day, 40 hours/week (no restriction for farm labor with parental permission)
Youth 16-18 may work:
- 5 am to 11 pm preceding a school day (4:30 am to 11:30 pm with parent’s written permission or in school program)
Permits
Youth under 18 must have proof of age and employment certificate issued by local school officials. For youth under 16, the proof of age and certificate must be returned at termination.
Content creators
Effective July 1, 2024, professional content creators — those who create video content performed in MN in exchange for compensation — must pay minors who appear 30 percent or more in their videos. Content creation is content shared on an online platform in exchange for compensation.
Content creators must deposit the minor’s share of the proceeds in a trust account until the child reaches adulthood. When minors are the main creators, all the proceeds must be deposited into their trust accounts.
Children under 14 are prohibited from engaging in the work of content creation. If children under the age of 14 are featured by a content creator, they are entitled to 100 percent of the proceeds from the account.
State
Contact
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry
Regulations
The Minnesota child labor requirements can be found in Chapter 181A, Sections 181A.01 through 181A.12 of the Minnesota Statutes.
Federal
Contact
The Department of Labor is the sole federal agency that monitors child labor and enforces child labor laws. Enforcement of the Fair Labor Standard Act's child labor provisions is handled by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department’s Employment Standards Administration.
Regulations
U.S. child labor regulations can be found in CFR 29:
Part 570 Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation
Part 575 Waiver of Child Labor Provisions for Agricultural Employment of 10 and 11 Year Old Minors In Hand Harvesting of Short Season Crops
Part 579 Child Labor Violations – Civil Money Penalties