Working as a teen in Arkansas: no permit, but real hour limits

Until 2023, an Arkansas employer had to get an employment certificate from the state before hiring anyone under 16. Act 195 of 2023 ended that. The Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing says permits have not been required since August 1, 2023, with one exception: a child 16 or under who works in entertainment (acting, modeling, performing) still needs an entertainment work permit from the department.

The age floor stayed. In most jobs, you must be at least 14 to be hired in Arkansas. Workers under 16 are also barred from jobs the state considers dangerous, including cooking and baking, power-driven machinery, construction, and driving. The same 2023 session passed Act 687, which raised the penalties for employers who break child labor law.

Arkansas law says a worker under 16 may work up to 8 hours a day, 48 hours a week, 6 days a week, and only between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. (until 9 p.m. on a night before a non-school day). The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (the FLSA, the national wage-and-hour law) is stricter for 14- and 15-year-olds: no more than 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day, 40 hours in a non-school week, and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., stretched to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day.

When two rules cover the same job, the employer must follow the more protective one. The Arkansas labor department says this on its own page. So for the 15-year-old in Jonesboro, the school-day limit is 3 hours, not 8.

At 16, Arkansas sets its own ceiling: no more than 54 hours a week, 10 hours in a day, 6 days a week, and nothing before 6 a.m. or after 11 p.m. (midnight before a non-school day). Federal law sets no hour limits at 16 or 17, so here the state rule is the one that bites. The state page lists no hour cap for 17-year-olds; if you are 17, ask the Labor Standards Division directly.

The Arkansas minimum wage is $11.00 an hour, well above the federal $7.25. It applies to employers with 4 or more employees. A tipped worker (a server at a Conway diner, for example) can be paid $2.63 an hour as long as tips bring the total up to $11.00; if they do not, the employer must make up the difference. There is a narrow path for an employer to pay a minor less than the minimum wage, but only with a Certificate of Eligibility issued by the state labor department.

Why does a federal law reach a yogurt shop in Jonesboro at all? In United States v. Darby (1941), the Supreme Court upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act: Congress can set wage, hour, and child-labor rules for work tied to goods that cross state lines. That is why every Arkansas teen has a federal floor and a state law on top.