CALL US NOW! (888) 713-5299

Do I have a case?

Child Labor Law Texas

In order to protect the health and well-being of children, the Texas Child Labor Law restricts the hours a child may work and the type of job he or she may hold.  It also provides that employers may not employ any child under the age of 14.  There are job categories which are exempt from this age restriction of the law.  They include the following:

*Children who perform in a motion picture, theatre, radio or television production. Even with this exception, Texas law enforces conditions on the child’s employment:  the manner of the child’s schooling; the hours he or she can work; the conditions of the work setting; and the required parental supervision on the set.  In addition, the child must obtain authorization from the Texas Workforce Commission.

*Children who are employed in a nonhazardous occupation in a family business owned by the parent and under the supervision of the parent.

*Children who deliver newspapers to consumers.

*Children who participate in a school-sponsored and school-administered work study program which is approved by the Texas Workforce Commission.

*Children who are employed in agriculture during periods of time when they are not legally required to attend school.

*Children who are employed in a juvenile rehabilitation program which is supervised by a county judge.

*Children who are engaged in a casual employment to which the parent has consented.

A child under the age of 14 may be exempt from the hours restriction for one year if he or she can prove a hardship with the Texas Workforce Commission.

In regard to minors aged fourteen to fifteen, they are prohibited from working more than an 8-hour day or a 48-hour week; from working between ten p.m. and five a.m. on days preceding a school day; and during summer vacation from working between midnight and five a.m.

In regard to minors aged fourteen to seventeen, they may apply to the Texas Workforce Commission for a “certificate of age” to verify their age to employers.

Minors aged fourteen or older are restricted from occupations declared hazardous by the Texas Workforce Commission or by other commissions or federal government agencies. The Department of Labor designates these conditions as particularly hazardous:  the manufacturing or storing of explosives, the use of a motor-vehicle; working within mine, logging or sawmill settings; the use of power-driven woodworking machines; exposure to radioactive substances;  the operation of machines in meat-processing, bakery, and paper products;  the manufacture of brick and kindred products;  the operation of circular or band saws; the operations of wrecking, demolition, roofing or excavation.

For minors under the age of fourteen, it is hazardous to sell items or services or solicit donations for any person other than an “exempt”organization or for a business owned and operated by the parent.  An “exempt” organization refers to a charitable organization or a club engaged in fund-raising for that entity if it is sponsored by a public or private school. 

An employer may not hire an individual under the age of 18 to sell, prepare, serve, or handle liquor or to assist in the aforementioned.  In addition, an employer is in violation of the law if he or she employs a minor under the age of seventeen to engage in work that requires the minor to work nude or topless.