Businesses employing young teens should ensure compliance with strict work-hour limits or face significant fines from the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and its implementing regulations. Of course, most Iowans would agree children should not be operating dangerous equipment or cleaning meat grinders. The focus of the DOL these days, however, seems to be on the hours teens work.

Many employers face crippling civil money penalties

Historically, federal enforcement in child labor has focused on the work activities being performed and preventing children from engaging in hazardous job duties. Comparatively, the time frame and total number of hours being worked tended to serve more as an aggravating or mitigating factor in those cases. In recent months, however, the Wage and Hour Division of the DOL has been citing stand-alone hours violations, putting many employers at risk of what may feel more like an inadvertent technical violation, rather than truly abusive child labor.

Compounding the trouble for unwitting employers, a November 2023 Field Assistance Bulletin from the Wage and Hour Administrator directed the DOL investigators to begin assessing Child Labor Civil Money Penalties on a per violation basis. Previously, the agency interpreted the regulations as authorizing these penalties (currently up to $15,138) in civil penalties per child.

To illustrate, consider a restaurant that hired five high school sophomores who occasionally worked until 8pm on Saturday nights in the spring. Those same students also used a toaster a few times (which, among other more obvious hazardous activities, is also forbidden under the regulations). That employer could face not just a maximum of $75,690 in penalties (5 employees x $15,138), but actually $151,380 (5 employees x 2 violations x $15,138).

And that is exactly the kind of scenario I’m seeing play out in Iowa. Recent news stories have featured small business owners who hired youth in compliance with state law, but now face $50,000-$150,000 in civil money penalties – an amount that could very well put them out of business.

Background

In February of 2023, the DOL announced it was launching a National Strategic Enforcement Initiative on Child Labor, with the goal of rooting out child labor violations. In the time since, Iowa has seen aggressive enforcement efforts by the DOL.

Under both federal and state law, 14 and 15-year-olds may only work outside of school hours. Federal regulations limit this age group to working only between the hours of 7am – 7pm following Labor Day through May 31, and between 7am to 9pm during the summer. In 2023, Iowa changed its law, allowing employers outside of the FLSA to employ these teens until 9pm during the school year and until 11pm in the summer – two hours later than the DOL’s restrictions. The problem is, most employers are covered by the FLSA, in addition to state law.

According to the DOL’s website, more than 20 states have laws that exceed the federal standard. (In fact, although Iowa just made the 9pm/11pm change recently, Iowa has exceeded the daily limits for this age group since 1970: federal law says no more than three hours in one day or 18 hours in one week during the school year; Iowa law says no more than six hours in one day or 28 hours in one week.) Enforcement efforts, however, have suddenly zeroed in on these discrepancies – especially in the food and beverage industry – with restaurants hit hard.

What to do

I think we all agree the safety, education, and the health of children is of utmost importance. Businesses should bear in mind that the FLSA covers almost all employers. That means federal and state standards applicable to child labor likely both apply to most employers. When a conflict between federal and state law exists, employers should err on the side of the standard providing the most protections and the strictest versions of those protections.

In the case of employing 14 and 15-year-olds, employers should consider:

• Adherence to the federal standards: from June 1 through Labor Day, they cannot work before 7am or after 9pm; the rest of the year, they cannot work later than 7pm.
• Adherence to the federal standards: no more than 3 hours of work in one day (including Fridays), and no more than 18 hours of work in any one week when school is in session).
• Both federal and Iowa standards: when school is not in session, no more than 8 hours in one day or 40 hours in one week.
• Iowa standard on breaks: if working 5 hours or more, a 30-minute break must be given.