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A 15-year-old in Spokane gets hired to bus tables on weekends. A 16-year-old in Tacoma wants evening shifts at a movie theater. In Washington, both of them work under rules from the Department of Labor and Industries, usually called L&I. Those rules are stricter than the federal ones, and they changed on July 1, 2026, so older advice you find online may be out of date.
Paperwork: the employer's permit and your school form
In Washington, the employer is the one who must hold a 'minor work permit' from L&I before hiring anyone under 18. You do not apply for a permit yourself. If you will work while school is in session, you bring your boss a Parent/School Authorization form, which is an L&I form signed by a parent and by a school official.
There is one exception. A 16- or 17-year-old who has been emancipated by a court (legally treated as an adult by a judge's order) does not need the parent and school form, although the employer still needs its permit.
Hour limits: Washington versus the federal floor
Federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act, lets 14- and 15-year-olds work up to 18 hours in a school week, 3 hours on a school day, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 to Labor Day). Washington goes lower: 16 hours in a school week, 3 hours on a school day and 8 on Saturday or Sunday, 6 days a week at most. In a week with no school, the limit is 8 hours a day and 40 a week.
Federal law sets no hour limits at all for 16- and 17-year-olds outside hazardous jobs. Washington does. In a school week the limit is 20 hours, 4 hours on a school day and 8 on Friday through Sunday, between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., or midnight on Friday and Saturday. In a week with no school, it is 8 hours a day and 48 a week, between 5 a.m. and midnight.
Any week with even one day of school counts as a school week. Thanksgiving week is a school week. With a 'special variance' (extra permission signed by a parent and the school), a 16- or 17-year-old can work up to 6 hours on a school day and 28 hours in a school week. Farm work has its own separate table on the L&I site.
Pay, and why states make these rules at all
Washington's minimum wage in 2026 is $17.13 an hour. An employer may pay a 14- or 15-year-old less, but never below 85 percent of that amount. At 16, you get the full state minimum. Some cities set a higher local minimum, and L&I keeps a list of local rates.
Child labor was not always a federal matter. In Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an early federal law that blocked shipping goods made in factories that used children under 14, ruling that Congress had gone past its power over trade between states. Federal limits came later, and states like Washington still add their own rules on top of the federal floor.
If something seems wrong at work
Count your hours for one week, Sunday through Saturday, which is how L&I measures a work week for minors. Compare them with the tables on the L&I 'Hours of Work' page. If you are scheduled past the limit or paid less than the minimum, contact L&I. It enforces both the child labor rules and the minimum wage, and its Employment Standards office in Tumwater is the listed contact for wage questions.
The state Minimum Wage Act forbids an employer from punishing a worker for using these rights. A parent, a school counselor, or your school's work-based learning coordinator can help you fill out the complaint.
Da ricordare
- In Washington, the employer holds the minor work permit; during the school year you bring a Parent/School Authorization form signed by a parent and the school.
- At 14 and 15, the state limit is 16 hours in a school week, lower than the federal 18.
- At 16 and 17, Washington caps a school week at 20 hours even though federal law sets no limit.
- The 2026 minimum wage is $17.13; 14- and 15-year-olds must get at least 85 percent of it, and L&I takes complaints.
Fonti
- Washington L&I: Hours of Work (youth employment) (si apre in una nuova scheda)
- Washington L&I: Minimum Wage (si apre in una nuova scheda)
- U.S. Dept. of Labor: Fact Sheet #43, Child Labor Provisions for Nonagricultural Occupations (si apre in una nuova scheda)
- Cornell LII: Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251 (1918) (si apre in una nuova scheda)
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