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Child Labor and Payroll Records

Two FLSA topics that are pure recall: what minors may work, and how long records must be kept. Both are tested as paired numbers you can easily reverse.

14- and 15-year-olds, school in session

In nonagricultural work, 14- and 15-year-olds may work:

  • no more than 3 hours on a school day,
  • no more than 18 hours in a week when school is in session,
  • only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., with the evening hour extended to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day.

The companion numbers are the nonschool figures: 8 hours on a nonschool day and 40 hours in a nonschool week. Answers that give you 8 and 40 for a school week, or that state the daily limit but drop the time-of-day window, are the standard distractors.

Apply it: a 15-year-old scheduled 5 hours on a Tuesday during the school year, ending at 8 p.m., breaks both the 3-hour limit and the 7 p.m. end time. The teen volunteering is irrelevant - consent does not waive the rule. Fix the schedule and review every minor's schedule for the same defect.

16, 17, and 18

16- and 17-year-olds may work unlimited hours in any occupation other than those declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. At 18, a worker is no longer subject to the federal youth employment provisions at all. There is no federal weekly cap or curfew for this age group.

Record retention: 3 years against 2

  • Payroll records, collective bargaining agreements, and sales and purchase records: at least 3 years.
  • Records on which wage computations are based - time cards, piece work tickets, wage rate tables, work and time schedules, records of additions to or deductions from wages: 2 years.

Reversing the two is the classic swap. Do not import the I-9 rule or a tax-style period here.

Penalty

A repeated or willful violation of minimum wage or overtime carries a civil money penalty of $2,515 per violation. The other real penalty figures in the schedule belong to child labor violations, not to sections 206 and 207.

Knowledge check

5 questions on what you just read. Each answer shows the full explanation and its source.

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