Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
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Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
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In the United States the basic minimum age for employment is 16 but labour laws allow employment of those who are 14.
As per the US Department of Labour and Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/43-child-labor-non-agriculture), young person’s 14 and 15 years of age may be employed outside school hours in a variety of non-manufacturing and non-hazardous jobs for limited periods of time and under specified conditions.
Children under 14 years of age may not be employed in non-agricultural occupations covered by the FLSA. Permissible employment for such children is limited to work that is exempt from the FLSA (such as delivering newspapers to the consumer and acting). Children may also perform work not covered by the FLSA such as completing minor chores around private homes or casual baby-sitting.
As per the law, they may work in most office jobs and retail and food service establishments.
They may be employed in occupations such as bagging groceries, office work, stocking shelves, and cashiering.
They may work in intellectual or artistically creative occupations such as teacher, musician, artist, and performers. They may perform limited kitchen work involving the preparation of food and beverages.
They may perform only limited cooking duties (see Fact Sheet #58). They may cook over electric or gas grills that do not involve cooking over an open flame and they may cook with deep fryers that are equipped with and utilise a device that automatically lowers the baskets into the hot oil or grease and automatically raised the baskets from the hot oil or grease.
They may clean cooking equipment and surfaces (not otherwise prohibited), and filter, transport, and dispose of grease as long as the temperature of the surfaces, containers, and grease do not exceed 100°F.
Properly certified 15-year-olds may work as lifeguards and swimming instructors at traditional swimming pools and water amusement parks.
