Working as a teen in Michigan: the permit every minor needs, the 10:30 p.m. line, and the 85% wage

The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) says a minor cannot work, with or without pay, or volunteer until the employer has a valid work permit on file. The permit comes from a school issuing officer, meaning an official at your school district, intermediate school district, charter school, or private school. Homeschooled teens go through the district where they live or where the job is.

The process has three parts. You and a parent fill in Section I of form CA-6 or CA-7 and show proof of age, such as a certified birth record or a school record. The employer fills in Section II, listing your duties, tools, and hours. The school official checks it and signs Section III.

LEO says that starting Oct. 2, 2026, every youth work permit must go through the state's online Youth Employment Permit Portal (YEPP), run by the Wage and Hour Division.

If you are under 16, Michigan law allows work only outside school hours: no more than 3 hours a day and 18 hours a week while school is in session, and 40 hours in a non-school week. Work must fall between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., or 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day. These match the federal Fair Labor Standards Act rules for 14- and 15-year-olds.

At 16 and 17, federal law sets no hour limits at all. Michigan does. You cannot work more than 10 hours in a day, 6 days in a week, or 48 hours in a week, and only 24 hours a week while school is in session. You cannot work between 10:30 p.m. and 6 a.m., though a student can work until 11:30 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and school vacations.

At any age under 18, after 5 hours in a row you get a break of at least 30 minutes, and an adult 18 or older must supervise you.

Michigan's minimum wage is $13.73 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2026, and $15.00 starting Jan. 1, 2027. State law lets an employer pay a worker under 18 at 85% of that rate, which works out to about $11.67 an hour in 2026. An employer can also pay a new worker under 20 a training wage of $4.25 an hour for the first 90 days, but it cannot fire or cut hours for another worker to do it.

States can add these rules on top of federal law because of United States v. Darby (1941). In that case the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and rejected its earlier decision in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), which had blocked Congress from limiting child labor.