Child Labor Laws in Wisconsin: Permits, Hours, and Banned Jobs

Wisconsin child labor laws require a state work permit for any employed minor under 16, set age-specific caps on daily and weekly hours for everyone under 18, and prohibit minors from a long list of dangerous jobs. The rules come from Wis. Stat. §§ 103.64–103.82 and Chapter DWD 270 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, and federal child labor rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act apply alongside them. When the two conflict, the stricter rule wins.

Work Permits for Minors Under 16

Any minor under 16 needs a state-issued work permit before starting a paid job in Wisconsin.¹ A parent or guardian applies through the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s online portal and pays a $10 fee; the employer must reimburse that $10 no later than the minor’s first paycheck.² The minor cannot submit the application themselves.

Before starting, have the employer’s name and address, a description of the job, proof of the minor’s age (a birth certificate or state-issued ID), and the minor’s Social Security number. Payment goes through the portal by credit card or ACH transfer. Once submitted, the system emails the permit to both the parent and the employer, and that electronic document is the minor’s legal authorization to begin working. A permit cannot authorize work during hours the minor is required to be in school.

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds do not need a work permit. Wisconsin eliminated that requirement in 2017 under Act 11. They remain fully subject to the hour limits, scheduling rules, and occupation restrictions below.

When No Permit Is Required

Several categories of work don’t need a permit even for minors under 16:

Agricultural work performed outside school hours, especially on a family farm or through a labor exchange with another farmer.
Domestic work in a private home, such as babysitting or yard work, as long as it isn’t part of a business.
Volunteer work for a nonprofit, though the minor still cannot perform any prohibited occupation.
Youth apprenticeships under Wis. Stat. § 106.13, which use an approved Education Training Agreement instead.
Work in a parent or guardian’s own business, subject to age-based occupation restrictions.¹

Hours Minors Can Work

Hour rules split sharply between the two age groups, and no minor of any age may work during hours they are required to attend school.³

Ages 14 and 15

Under DWD 270.11, minors aged 14 and 15 face the tightest scheduling restrictions:

School days: no more than 4 hours per day, except the last school day of the week, when they may work up to 8 hours.
School weeks: no more than 18 hours total, rising to 24 if school meets fewer than 5 days that week.
Non-school weeks: no more than 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.
Time-of-day limits: cannot start before 7:00 AM. On nights before a school day, work must end by 8:00 PM. On non-school nights, the limit extends to 11:00 PM.⁴

Federal rules under the FLSA are tighter in several places. The FLSA caps 14- and 15-year-olds covered by federal law at 3 hours on a school day, with an evening cutoff of 7:00 PM during the school year and 9:00 PM from June 1 through Labor Day.⁵ Most Wisconsin employers are covered by both laws, so the federal numbers will usually be the binding constraint. A federally covered employer can schedule a 14-year-old for 3 hours on a school day, not the 4 that state law would allow.

Ages 16 and 17

Under DWD 270.11, older minors face these caps:

School days: no more than 5 hours, except the last school day of the week (up to 8 hours).
School weeks: no more than 26 hours, rising to 32 if school meets fewer than 5 days that week.
Non-school weeks: up to 50 hours, but only if the employer pays overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 10 in a day or 40 in a week.
Night work: cannot start before 7:00 AM on school days (5:00 AM on non-school days). After an 11:00 PM shift, the minor must receive 8 consecutive hours of rest before the next shift. Between 12:30 AM and 5:00 AM, the minor must be under direct adult supervision.⁴

Meal Breaks

All minors must receive a 30-minute duty-free meal break before working more than 6 consecutive hours. Meal periods should fall near the standard times of 6:00 AM, noon, 6:00 PM, or midnight.³

Jobs Minors Cannot Do

Wisconsin bans minors from two tiers of dangerous work: occupations prohibited for everyone under 18, and additional restrictions for those under 16. The DWD 270.12 and DWD 270.13 lists are long and specific; what follows are the categories employers and parents hit most often.

Banned for All Minors Under 18

DWD 270.12 prohibits any minor from occupations deemed dangerous to health or safety, including:

Operating, assisting, setting up, or cleaning power-driven saws and cutting equipment such as circular saws, band saws, chain saws, and guillotine shears, unless the machine has a fully automatic feed and ejection system.
Running bakery machines like horizontal or vertical dough mixers, bread dividing or molding machines, dough sheeters, and cake-cutting band saws.
Working in or backfilling trenches deeper than 4 feet, tunneling, and shaft work.
Any occupation in or around a coal mine, with narrow exceptions for surface offices.
Entering confined spaces with limited entry or exit, poor ventilation, or potential for dangerous air contamination.
Operating, erecting, dismantling, or loading passengers on amusement rides or ski lifts. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds may load passengers on water slides.
Any work involving exposure to asbestos or related minerals.
Driving motor vehicles on public roads for work purposes. A limited federal exception allows 17-year-olds to drive cars or small trucks during daylight hours under strict conditions.⁵

The full DWD 270.12 list runs to more than 25 categories, also covering roofing, wrecking and demolition, slaughtering, pesticide handling, and work with radioactive materials.

Additional Bans for Minors Under 16

DWD 270.13 adds restrictions for the youngest workers. Minors under 16 cannot work in or around:

Construction, demolition, or repair sites, except office or sales roles away from the actual site.
Hospitals and nursing homes in jobs involving personal care of patients.
Freezers and meat coolers, or preparing meats for sale. Minors 14 and older may wrap, seal, label, and stock meat products in areas separated from the cooler.
Kitchen cooking without direct adult supervision. Fourteen- and 15-year-olds may use dishwashers, toasters, microwaves, blenders, coffee machines, and heat lamps without supervision.
Car or truck pits, racks, or lifting equipment. Minors 14 and older may pump gas, provide courtesy service, or wash and polish cars.
Airport operations, boiler rooms, and communications or public utility work, except office roles.⁶

Working Where Alcohol Is Sold

Minors aged 14 through 17 may work in places where alcohol is present, including restaurants, grocery stores, and event venues, but they cannot serve, sell, dispense, or give away alcohol beverages.⁷ They also cannot work as bouncers, crowd controllers, or ID checkers. A worker must be at least 18 to handle alcohol in any capacity, and children of a licensed alcohol beverage holder are subject to the same restrictions.⁸

Pay Rules for Minor Employees

Wisconsin’s general minimum wage of $7.25 per hour applies to minors.⁹ Employers may pay a lower “opportunity wage” of $5.90 per hour to workers under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. On the 91st day the rate must rise to $7.25.

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds get overtime earlier than adults do. During non-school weeks, any hours over 10 in a day or 40 in a week must be paid at 1.5 times the regular rate.⁴ That premium is the condition for scheduling these minors up to 50 hours during breaks from school; the extended cap and the overtime pay go together.

Penalties for Violations

Wisconsin enforces its child labor rules at the state level, and most employers also face federal exposure under the FLSA. The two systems stack.

State fines run $10 to $100 per day for each violation. Repeat offenders with multiple violations within a five-year period face $250 to $5,000 per day per violation.¹⁰

The bigger exposure sits in workers’ compensation. If a minor is injured while working without a required permit, the employer owes double the normal workers’ compensation liability. If the minor was hurt doing a job prohibited by statute, with or without a permit, the employer owes triple compensation. Those multipliers can turn an ordinary workplace injury into a serious financial event.

Federal civil penalties under the FLSA, at the 2025 amounts that continue into 2026 after the federal government cancelled the scheduled inflation adjustment:

Standard child labor violation: up to $16,035 per violation.
Violation causing serious injury or death: up to $72,876.
Willful or repeated violation causing serious injury or death: up to $145,752.¹¹

An employer who puts a 15-year-old on a circular saw without a work permit could face state fines, federal fines, and multiplied workers’ compensation obligations from the same incident.

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 103.70 – Permits Necessary for Minors, Exceptions
2
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Work Permits
3
Department of Workforce Development. Wisconsin Employment of Minors Guide
4
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Administrative Code DWD 270.11 – Hours of Labor of Minors
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations
6
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Administrative Code DWD 270.13 – Occupations Prohibited for Minors Under 16
7
Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Alcohol Beverage Laws for Underage Persons
8
Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Alcohol Beverage Laws for Retailers – Underage Alcohol Questions
9
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Minimum Wage
10
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Wisconsin Civil Rights and Labor Standards Laws
11
U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments