Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The U.S. Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division and Paychex, Inc., headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., are partnering to provide employers the legal information they need to know when employing young workers.

The initiative, known as YouthRules EQUIP (Employer Quick Info. from Paychex), is a cooperative effort to provide the company's 500,000 employer clients nationwide with information on the youth employment regulations enforced by the U.S. Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division. Paychex is a leading national provider of payroll and human resource services for small- and medium-sized employers.

Paychex has agreed to post on its Internet website a quick reference list of common violations that employers encounter when hiring youth. The list includes general information for all employers - broken down by the minor's age - on hour restrictions, prohibited occupations and hazardous orders. The website also provides industry-specific information for businesses in the restaurant/food service industry, construction, and wholesale/manufacturing industries.

In addition, Paychex has incorporated direct links from its website to the Labor Department's YouthRules home page (www.youthrules.dol.gov) for fact sheets about employing minors, employment law advisors on hours' restrictions and hazardous occupations, and further links to relevant state information.

Anyone can access the Paychex website at www.paychex.com. Paychex is announcing the availability of this online YouthRules information in several of its client newsletters.

The youth employment regulations come under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enforced by the Wage and Hour Division. The FLSA prohibits workers under the age of 18 from working in hazardous occupations and contains additional restrictions on the work performed by 14 and 15 year olds. The FLSA time standards prohibit 14 and 15 year olds from working more than three hours on school days; more than 18 hours per week in school weeks; more than 8 hours a day on non-school days; more than 40 hours per week when school is not in session. Also, 14 and 15 year-olds may not work before 7:00 a.m., or after 7:00 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when their permissible hours are extended to 9:00 p.m.

For more information regarding the youth employment and other provisions of the FLSA, call the Labor Department's toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or contact the Buffalo, NY, area office of the Wage and Hour Division at (716) 551-4891. In addition to www.youthrules.dol.gov, information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.