Your first job in Massachusetts: the superintendent's permit, the clock, and $15 an hour

Massachusetts law says a business may not employ a minor 14 or older without an employment permit (the state's name for a work permit) issued by the superintendent of schools. The employer must keep your permit on file, where the Attorney General's inspectors can see it, along with a list of the names and ages of every minor it employs.

When the job ends, the employer has two days to return the permit to the superintendent's office that issued it. Each district decides how it handles the paperwork, so start by calling the superintendent's office or the guidance office at your school. Have the employer's name, the work address, and a description of the job ready.

For 14- and 15-year-olds, Massachusetts allows no more than 8 hours a day, 48 hours a week, and 6 days a week, and only between 6:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. From July 1 through Labor Day, the evening limit moves to 9 p.m. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, the national wage and hour law) is tighter in places: 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 40 hours in a non-school week, and no work before 7 a.m. So in practice, the 7 a.m. start and the school-week limits come from federal law. In June, the state rule is the tighter one: federal law allows 9 p.m. starting June 1, but Massachusetts keeps the 7 p.m. limit until July 1.

At 16, the federal hour limits end. Massachusetts keeps going. A 16- or 17-year-old may work up to 9 hours a day, 48 hours a week, and 6 days a week. On a night before a school day, work must fall between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. (10:15 p.m. if the business stops serving customers at 10). On other nights the limit is 11:30 p.m., or midnight at restaurants and racetracks.

The Massachusetts minimum wage is $15.00 an hour, more than double the federal $7.25. State law also says the Massachusetts rate must stay at least 50 cents above the federal one. The U.S. Department of Labor's summary of state wage laws lists no separate youth or training wage for Massachusetts.

Federal limits apply in Massachusetts because of United States v. Darby (1941). The Supreme Court held that Congress may use its power over trade between states to set wages, hours, and child labor limits, and it rejected Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), which had said Congress could not ban goods made with child labor.