A 15-year-old in Salina gets hired to bus tables at a restaurant on South Ninth Street. Her manager asks whether she needs a work permit and whether she can close on a Friday night. Kansas answers both questions in a law that dates to 1917, K.S.A. 38-601 through 38-614, and the answers are more specific than most people expect. This article walks through that law, then shows where the federal Fair Labor Standards Act sets a floor that Kansas employers must also respect.
Fourteen is the floor, and the permit rule has a big exception
Kansas law says no child under 14 may be employed in any business, with a short list of exceptions in K.S.A. 38-614: working for your own parents in a non-hazardous job, babysitting or chores around a private home, delivering newspapers, farm work, and acting or performing. Even those exempt jobs cannot happen during the hours the local public school is in session.
For workers under 16, K.S.A. 38-604 tells the employer to get a work permit and keep it on file where an inspector can see it. Then comes the exception that covers most teens: if the young worker is enrolled in or attending a secondary school in Kansas, no permit is required. A 15-year-old at Salina Central High School does not need paperwork from the state to take that restaurant job. A 15-year-old who has left school does. Kansas does not have a separate permit system for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Hours: what Kansas limits, and where federal law is stricter
K.S.A. 38-603 covers workers under 16 in hotels, restaurants, stores, and message or delivery work. They may not work before 7 a.m. or after 10 p.m., except on an evening that does not come before a school day. They may not work more than 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. That is the whole Kansas hours rule, and it stops at age 16. Kansas sets no daily or weekly hours cap for 16- and 17-year-olds.
The federal floor matters here. The Fair Labor Standards Act, enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, adds tighter school-year limits for 14- and 15-year-olds at most businesses, and the stricter rule always wins. So the Salina restaurant has to follow both the Kansas 10 p.m. line and the federal school-day limits published on the Department of Labor's YouthRules site.
The reason a federal child labor law exists at all is a court fight. In Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), the Supreme Court struck down Congress's first child labor law, ruling that Congress could not use its power over interstate commerce to keep goods made by children out of other states. Congress tried again with the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, and the Court upheld it in United States v. Darby (1941), overruling Hammer. That is why a Kansas teen is protected by two sets of rules today.
Pay: Kansas matches the federal minimum
The Kansas minimum wage, set in K.S.A. 44-1203, is $7.25 an hour, the same as the federal rate. Tipped workers, like a server in Salina, can be paid $2.13 an hour by the employer as long as tips bring the total to at least $7.25; if they do not, the employer must pay the difference. Kansas has no separate lower 'youth wage' in its statute.
One detail in that statute is easy to miss: the Kansas wage law does not apply to employers already covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Most restaurants and stores are covered federally, so a wage complaint from a Kansas teen usually goes to the federal Wage and Hour Division rather than the state. Hazardous work is different. K.S.A. 38-602 bars anyone under 18 from jobs the U.S. Secretary of Labor lists as hazardous, and the state labor commissioner can add more.
Where to check and who to call
The Kansas child labor statutes are public on the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes website under Chapter 38, Article 6. Read K.S.A. 38-603 and 38-604 yourself; each is a single paragraph. The Kansas Department of Labor is the state agency named in the law for child labor questions and complaints, and its office is in Topeka. For federal hours limits, minimum wage, or a job that looks unsafe, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division takes complaints from workers of any age, and a parent can call on a teen's behalf.
If you are under 16 and not enrolled in school, ask the employer before your first shift whether they have your work permit on file. If a schedule puts you past 10 p.m. on a school night, say so. The statute is on your side.
Remember this
- In Kansas no one under 14 can be employed, except in listed jobs like newspaper delivery, farm work, or working for your parents.
- Workers under 16 need a work permit on file unless they are enrolled in a Kansas secondary school, which covers most teens.
- Kansas caps under-16 workers at 8 hours a day, 40 a week, and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. before a school day; federal law adds stricter school-year limits for ages 14 and 15.
- The Kansas minimum wage is $7.25, the same as federal, and the Kansas Department of Labor and the federal Wage and Hour Division both take complaints.
Sources
- Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes: K.S.A. 38-603, Children under 16, employment (opens in a new tab)
- Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes: K.S.A. 38-604, Work permit required; exception (opens in a new tab)
- Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes: K.S.A. 44-1203, Minimum wage (opens in a new tab)
- Legal Information Institute (Cornell): Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251 (1918) (opens in a new tab)
This article provides general educational information, not individualized legal advice. KidsKnowRights is not a law firm, and reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws vary by state, age, and circumstances, and they change over time. For advice about a real situation, talk with a licensed attorney or a legal aid organization.