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Work Permits

Procedure for School Regarding Work Permits
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Minors under 16 years old must obtain a work permit before beginning a job. This includes home-schoolers. They must get a new permit every time they begin a new job until they reach 16 years old, even if they work for their parents.
In order to apply for a work permit, the minor must be:
  • enrolled in school;
  • not habitually truant or under suspension; and
  • passing a majority of courses during the current grading period.
Once the minor has the promise of a job, she or he must take proof of age to the office of the superintendent of schools.  Social security numbers are no longer needed.  Parental permission is required to work.
The superintendent's office will complete the permit and mail the forms and proof of age to the Maine Department of Labor. A copy of the Maine Work Permit Form can be downloaded here. The Department will review the permit to ensure that the minor is of legal age to work at the business and that the occupation is not hazardous. If the permit is in order, the Department will validate the forms, keep one copy and return two copies to the superintendent's office (one copy for the school, one for the employer).

Employers must have a stamped, approved work permit on file before allowing any minor under 16 years old to work. The minor cannot work until the Department of Labor approves the permit, which can take up to one week.

The Department of Labor issues permits for specific jobs with specific employers. Permits are not transferable to other jobs or employers. A minor under 16 needs a separate work permit for each place he or she works.
A minor can have one active permit during the school year and two during the summer. Upon leaving a job, the minor or the employer should return the employer copy of the permit to the Department of Labor so that it can be invalidated.

School Attendance
Maine compulsory education law requires all students to attend school until age 17. The local school board must grant special permission for a minor under 17 years old to drop out of school.
A minor under 16 who has been granted such permission still must have a work permit; hourly and prohibited occupations restrictions also apply.
Hourly restrictions do not apply to 16- or 17-year olds no longer enrolled in school. Occupational restrictions apply to all minors whether or not they are enrolled in school.
Minors under 17 cannot work during the hours that school is in session unless they have the school's permission for early release from school or they are in an approved program.

Legal Work Hours for Minors
Employers must keep daily time records for minors. The records must show what time the minor began work, total hours worked, and what time the minor finished for the day.
Child labor laws specify how early, how late and how long minors can work. See below for details.

Following are the hours and times minors may work:
A. Minors under 16 years old
Work Hours
  • Between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. during the school year
  • Between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. during summer vacations only
  • Not during school hours
Maximum Hours
  • 3 hours a day on school days, including Fridays
  • 18 hours in any week during a school week
  • 40 hours in a week with no school
  • 8 hours on days without school (during weekends, holidays, vacations, storm days, etc.)
  • No more than 6 days in a row
B. 16- and 17-Year Olds (enrolled in school, including home-school)
The Maine law which limits hours for 16- and 17-year-old workers includes several exceptions. Federal law does not limit work hours for 16- and 17-year olds.
Work hours (may work)
  • After 7 a.m. on a school day
  • After 5 a.m. on a nonschool day
  • Until 10:15 p.m. on a day before a school day
  • Until midnight if no school the next day
  • Minors under 17 may NOT work during school hours
Maximum hours (may work)
  • 6 hours on a school day;
  • 8 hours on the last school day of the week - there are some exceptions for co-op (work-study) students, and students with an alternative education plan with a work component.
  • 10 hours a day on weekends, holidays, vacations, teacher workshops
  • 24 hours a week in any week with 3 or more school days
  • 50 hours a week each week there are less than 3 scheduled school days or during 1st and last week of school year
  • May NOT work more than 6 days in a row
  •  
C. Exceptions

Students enrolled in an approved alternative education plan or an approved cooperative/vocational education program can work the daily or weekly hours required for the program without having those hours count toward the regular maximums allowed. For example, a 17-year-old student could work 15 hours under a cooperative/vocational education plan plus the 24 hours that the law would normally allow for a student under 18 years old.
The following are exempt from all of the State hourly restrictions:
  • A minor employed in the planting, cultivating or harvesting of field crops or other agricultural employment not in direct contact with hazardous machinery or substances. (Federal child labor laws for agriculture are different. See Section IX. Federal Prohibited Occupations.)
  • A minor working as an employed or in-training actor;
  • A minor working at a children's camp;
  • A minor who is legally emancipated;
  • Minors employed in fishing occupations or in the operation of ferries or excursion boats are exempt from the weekly and hourly restrictions only while school is not in session
Minimum Age for Employment
Maine law states at what age minors may work in specific industries. Minimum ages under Federal law are different. Contact the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division at 780-3344 (Portland) or 945-0330 (Bangor) for details.
Minors Who are 16 or 17: May work in nonhazardous jobs in manufacturing establishments, bakeries, laundries, dry-cleaning establishments and garages. They may also work in hotels; motels; commercial places of amusement, including skating rinks, circuses, arcades, bowling alleys and pool halls; and in all of the industries allowed for younger minors.
Minors Who are 15: May work in nonhazardous jobs in dining rooms, kitchens, lobbies and offices of hotels and motels, but they are prohibited from performing room service, making deliveries to the hotel rooms or entering the hallways to those rooms.
Minors Who are 14: May work in nonhazardous jobs in restaurants (if not on the premises of a hotel/motel), in sporting and overnight camps, stores, filling stations, ice cream stands and laundromats. They also may work at outside occupations on the grounds of a hotel or motel, but not if the minor must stay away from home overnight.
Minors Who are Under 14: There is no minimum age under Maine law to work in nonhazardous jobs in children's camps, hospitals, nursing homes, municipalities, domestic work in or about a private home or in the planting, cultivating or harvesting of field crops in agriculture. (Federal law does not allow minors under 14 to work in businesses under their jurisdiction.)
Minors of any age may work for their parents in non-hazardous jobs in non-mechanical and nonmanufacturing settings in retail or service industries (excluding hotels and motels) if they are supervised directly by one or both parents.  Work permit requirements, hours of work, and prohibited occupations apply to minors even if they work for their parents.
Federal laws may not allow parental exceptions. Contact the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division at 780-3344 (Portland) or 945-0330 (Bangor) for details.

Maine Prohibited Occupations
Rules Governing Hazardous Occupations for Minors under Eighteen
Effective Date: May 14, 2001
Coverage: These rules apply to all nonagricultural employment and nonemployment situations. Non-employment situations include, but are not limited to, legitimate training and volunteer programs that ensure the safety and wellbeing of minors. These rules do not apply to minors in public and approved private schools where mechanical equipment is installed and operated primarily for the purpose of instruction.

A. Minors Under 16 Years of Age
Minors under the age of 16 may not be employed in the following occupations:
  • Any manufacturing occupation;
  • Any mining occupation;
  • Processing occupations (such as filleting fish, dressing poultry, cracking nuts, or laundering by commercial laundries and dry cleaners, etc.) when performed in a processing industry such as a plant;
  • Motor vehicle driving and outside helper on a motor vehicle;
  • Operation or tending of hoisting apparatus or of any power-driven machinery other than nonhazardous office machines or machines in certain retail, food service, and gasoline service establishments;
  • Construction occupations involving:
a. Maintenance and repair of public highways;
b. All roofing occupations;
c. All trenching and excavation operations;
  • (Federal law prohibits minors under 16 from doing any construction work.)
  • All work in boiler or engine rooms;
  • Outside window washing that involves working from window sills, and all work involving the use of ladders, scaffolds or their substitutes;
  • Cooking (except where visible to the public) and baking;
  • Occupations which involve operating, setting up, adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or repairing power-driven food slicers and grinders, food choppers and cutters, and bakery-type mixers;
  • All work in freezers and meat coolers;
  • Occupations involving the use of power-driven mowers or cutters, including the use of chain saws;
  • All warehousing occupations, including the loading and unloading of trucks and use of conveyors;
  • All welding, brazing, or soldering occupations;
  • Occupations involving the use of toxic chemicals and paints;
  • Selling door-to-door (except when the minor is selling candy or merchandise as a fund-raiser for school or for an organization to which the minor belongs, such as Girl Scouts of America) or work in a traveling youth crew;
  • All occupations on amusement rides, including ticket collection or sales;
  • Any placement at the scene of a fire, explosion or other emergency response situation. (See Section D. Junior Firefighters); and
  • All occupations that are expressly prohibited for 16-and 17-year olds.
  •  
B. 16- and 17-Year Olds
Minors who are 16 and 17 years old may not be employed in the following occupations:
  • Manufacturing and storing explosives;
  • Motor vehicle driving and outside helper on a motor vehicle;
  • All mining occupations;
  • Power-driven woodworking machines;
  • Power-driven hoisting apparatus, including forklifts;
  • Power-driven metal forming, punching, and shearing machines;
  • Slaughtering or meat packing, processing, or rendering occupations (this includes meat slicers, grinders, and choppers);
  • Power-driven paper products machines, including balers and compactors;
  • Manufacturing brick, tile, and kindred products;
  • Power-driven circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears;
  • Wrecking and demolition occupations;
  • Roofing operations;
  • Excavation operations;
  • All occupations in places having nude entertainment;
  • Working alone in a cash-based business;
  • In direct contact with pesticides;
  • Placement at the scene of a fire, explosion, or other emergency situation except as provided in Section D. Junior Firefighters
  • Gas or electric welding, brazing, burning, or cutting.
  • Working at heights; and
  • Working in confined spaces.
NOTE: The Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement prohibits teens under 18 from handling, serving, or selling alcoholic beverages. Exceptions: 15-year olds can handle liquor (for example, stocking and carrying) but not serve or sell it and 17-year olds can serve or sell liquor if a supervisor 21 or older is present. For more information, call Liquor Enforcement at 624-8745.
For more detailed information or questions please refer the following Resources

Child labor laws, wages, hiring and firing:
Maine Department of Labor (enforces Maine child labor laws)
Bureau of Labor Standards
Wage and Hour Division
623-7900
(TTY: Maine relay 711)


Revised:  November 2016 (bjo)