Working as a teen in New Hampshire: the youth certificate, the 23-hour week, and your pay

A youth employment certificate is a state form that says a minor may work. In New Hampshire, anyone under 16 needs one, with three exceptions: working for a parent, grandparent, or guardian, doing 'casual' work (odd jobs like shoveling a neighbor's walk), and farm work.

The certificate can be issued by your school principal or someone the principal names, or by your parent or guardian. It is issued only after a check that your grades are at a satisfactory level, and it must show proof of your age and adequate health, with a line for a parent's signature. If your grades slip later, the school or your parent can revoke it, and the employer and the New Hampshire Department of Labor must be told within 48 hours.

At 16 and 17 you do not need a certificate. Unless you have finished high school or a GED, your employer must keep a signed note from your parent or guardian on file saying you may work.

If you are under 16, New Hampshire allows work only between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. On a school day the limit is 3 hours, and in a school week it is 23 hours. On a day with no school you may work 8 hours, and during vacations up to 48 hours a week. Federal rules for 14- and 15-year-olds are stricter on the school week (18 hours) and on the evening (7 p.m. outside summer), so an employer covered by federal law has to follow those.

At 16 and 17, federal hour rules stop. New Hampshire's do not. If you are enrolled in school, you may not work more than 35 hours in a week when school meets all 5 days. During vacations, summer included (June 1 through Labor Day), the cap is 48 hours and 6 days in a row.

New Hampshire does not set its own minimum wage number. State law says the minimum is the federal minimum wage. There is one youth rule worth knowing: a worker 16 or younger can be paid as little as 75 percent of the minimum, and only if the employer keeps proof of the worker's age on file. Once you turn 17, that lower rate no longer applies to you.

Congress's power to set wage and child-labor rules was settled in United States v. Darby (1941), where the Supreme Court upheld the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and overruled Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), an earlier case that had struck down a federal child-labor law.