Working as a teen in Arizona: hours, pay, and who enforces the rules

Arizona's rule for workers under 16 is section 23-233 of the Arizona Revised Statutes. On a school day you can work no more than 3 hours, and no more than 18 hours in a week when school is in session. On a day off, the limit is 8 hours, and 40 hours in a week when school is out. The statute also defines 'night': no work between 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. before a school day, or between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. before a day off.

The federal FLSA uses the same daily and weekly counts for 14- and 15-year-olds (3, 18, 8, and 40), but it is stricter about the clock. Federal law keeps 14- and 15-year-olds between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., stretched to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day. Because the federal cutoff is stricter than Arizona's 9:30 p.m., the 7 p.m. cutoff is the one that applies to most school-year jobs. The Mesa yogurt shop schedule works only if each shift ends by 7 p.m. and the week stays under 18 hours.

Two Arizona exceptions matter. Section 23-233 does not cover delivering newspapers. And section 23-235 exempts teens working for a business owned at least 10 percent by a parent, grandparent, or another close relative named in the statute, as long as a worker under 16 is not doing manufacturing or mining.

Arizona's hour limits stop at 16. The federal rule matches: the Department of Labor's Fact Sheet 43 says 16- and 17-year-olds may work unlimited hours in any job not on the federal hazardous list. What changes at 16 is not when you can work but where.

Section 23-231 lists the jobs Arizona closes to anyone under 18 unless the Industrial Commission grants a variance (a written exception). The list includes mining, logging, roofing, demolition, running a power-driven saw or metal-forming machine, working around explosives, and driving on the job beyond 2 hours a day or 50 miles. A 17-year-old in Flagstaff cannot legally be put on a roofing crew, even with a parent's permission.

Under 16, section 23-232 closes more doors: manufacturing, construction, warehousing, work from a ladder or scaffold more than 5 feet up, and, in a restaurant or gas station, cooking anywhere except a snack bar or lunch counter.

The Department of Labor's state minimum wage table lists Arizona's basic rate at $15.15 an hour. The federal minimum is $7.25, and the higher rate wins, so a teen in Tucson or Yuma earns at least $15.15 for most jobs. The table shows one basic rate for Arizona, and we did not find a lower youth or training wage on the state's official pages. If an employer offers less than $15.15, ask the Industrial Commission's Labor Department whether that is allowed before you accept.

The reason Congress can set a national floor at all comes from the Supreme Court. In Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), the Court struck down the first federal child labor law, saying Congress could not use its power over interstate commerce to keep goods made by children out of other states. In United States v. Darby (1941), the Court overruled Hammer and upheld the FLSA. That is why the federal hour limits above reach into Arizona.