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Fact Sheet #58: Cooking and Baking under the Federal Youth Employment Provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
This fact sheet provides general information concerning cooking and baking activities under the federal youth employment provisions. For detailed information about the federal youth employment provisions, please read Regulations, 29 CFR Part 570 located at http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_570/toc.htm.
The Department of Labor is committed to helping young workers find positive, appropriate and safe employment experiences. The youth employment provisions of the FLSA were enacted to ensure that when young people work, the work does not jeopardize their health, well-being or educational opportunities.
The FLSA and the youth employment regulations, issued at 29 CFR Part 570, establish both hours and occupational standards for youth. Youth of any age are generally permitted to work for businesses entirely owned by their parents, except those under 16 may not be employed in mining or manufacturing and no one under 18 may be employed in any occupation the Secretary of Labor has declared to be hazardous.
18 Years of Age |
Once a youth reaches 18 years of age, he or she is no longer subject to the federal youth employment provisions.
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16 & 17 Years of Age |
Sixteen- and 17-year-olds may be employed for unlimited hours in any occupation other than those declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. Examples of equipment declared hazardous and often used by cooks and bakers include power-driven meat processing machines (meat slicers, meat saws, patty-forming machines, meat grinders, and meat choppers), commercial mixers and certain power-driven bakery machines. Employees under 18 years of age are not permitted to operate, feed, set-up, adjust, repair, or clean any of these machines.
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14 & 15 Years of Age |
Fourteen- and 15- year-olds may be employed in food preparation,
but they may not perform any baking activities and only limited cooking
tasks.
There are also restrictions on the number of hours and times of day
that these minors may be employed. See Fact Sheet No. 43 in this series
(Youth Employment Provisions for Nonagricultural Occupations)
for information about these hours standards. The rules regarding what
cooking tasks 14- and 15-year-olds may legally perform were revised
by the U. S. Department of Labor, effective February 14, 2005. The
following charts highlight the changes in these rules.
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For more information regarding the FLSA youth employment provisions, including a complete list of all hazardous occupation orders, visit the YouthRules! Web site at www.youthrules.dol.gov.
For more information regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act, visit the Wage and Hour Division Web site at www.wagehour.dol.gov or call our toll-free help line, available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in your time zone at 1-866-4US-WAGE (1-866-487-9243). The FLSA statute appears at 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.
When state youth employment laws differ from the federal provisions, an employer must comply with the higher standard. Links to your state labor department can be found at www.dol.gov/esa/contacts/state_of.htm.
The Department of Labor provides this information to enhance public access to information on its programs. This publication is for general information and is not to be considered in the same light as official statements of position contained in regulations.
Revised December 2004