Does Indiana Require a Work Permit for Teens?

Indiana does not require a work permit for teens. The state eliminated work permits on July 1, 2021, and responsibility for tracking minor employees shifted from schools to employers through an online system run by the Indiana Department of Labor.¹ If you’re a teen looking for work in Indiana, you don’t need to visit the school office, get a form signed, or hand anything to your employer before your first day. What you do need to understand are the age-based rules on hours and the kinds of jobs you’re allowed to do.

What You Actually Need to Do

From the teen’s side, there’s nothing to file. You apply, you get hired, and your employer takes care of the state’s paperwork if the company is big enough to be required to use it. Indiana does not require written parental consent to employ a 16- or 17-year-old.² The minimum working age in the state is 14 for most jobs.

One thing worth knowing before you start: Indiana does not require employers to give minors a meal break or a rest break, no matter how long the shift.² Many employers offer them anyway, but it is not a legal requirement.

Hour Rules for 14 and 15-Year-Olds

The strictest limits apply to the youngest workers. Indiana’s rules for 14- and 15-year-olds track federal limits under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and when the two differ the stricter rule controls.³ In practice, they line up:

School days: no more than 3 hours of work
School weeks: no more than 18 hours total
Non-school days: up to 8 hours
Non-school weeks: up to 40 hours
Earliest start: 7:00 a.m.
Latest end: 7:00 p.m., extended to 9:00 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day

These limits apply year-round. The school-day caps kick in whenever school is actually in session, so once classes resume in August, the 9:00 p.m. summer evening ends even though Labor Day is still ahead.²

Hour Rules for 16 and 17-Year-Olds

This is where Indiana recently changed course. As of January 1, 2025, the state removed all hour and time-of-day restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds. Teens in this age group can work the same hours as adults, and no parental permission is required for late or long shifts.⁴ A 16-year-old can close out a restaurant on a school night with no special paperwork.

Federal law also sets no hour caps on this age group, so the hour restrictions are genuinely gone. What federal law still does restrict is the type of work, and those rules apply to everyone under 18.

Jobs Teens Can’t Do

Age controls not only when you can work but what work you can do. The federal restrictions get looser at 16, and looser again at 18, with some jobs off-limits until adulthood regardless of state law.

Off-Limits Until 18

Federal law lists 17 categories of hazardous occupations no one under 18 may perform, no matter what state rules say. These include coal mining, operating power-driven woodworking machines, work involving explosives, operating forklifts and other hoisting equipment, meat-processing machine operation, and roofing.⁵ The full list reaches across manufacturing, mining, and construction, and it still applies in Indiana even after the 2025 hour changes.³

Extra Limits for 14 and 15-Year-Olds

Younger teens have a much narrower list of permitted jobs. Federal rules allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work in most retail jobs, office and clerical roles, food service with limits, and some outdoor maintenance.⁶ The kitchen rules catch families off guard. At a fast food job, a 14- or 15-year-old can reheat food and wash dishes but cannot cook over open flames, use commercial fryers (unless the fryer has an automatic basket-lowering device), or operate power-driven slicers, grinders, or mixers.⁷

Baking is off-limits entirely for this age group, including loading trays, operating any oven other than a microwave used only for warming, and taking items out of ovens.⁷ Working inside a freezer or meat cooler is also prohibited, though a quick trip in to grab something is fine.

Jobs That Fall Outside the Usual Hour Limits

Indiana carves out specific situations where the standard hour caps for 14- and 15-year-olds don’t apply. A minor in that age group is exempt from those restrictions when doing farm labor, domestic service, caddying at a golf course, or providing sports-attending services at professional sporting events. Children as young as 12 may also serve as referees, umpires, or officials for youth athletic programs without being bound by the usual hour limits.⁸

A separate exemption covers 14- and 15-year-olds who have graduated from high school, been expelled without an alternative school requirement, or are under a court order barring school attendance. Where the minor has completed eighth grade or has a child to support and has been excused from compulsory attendance, a parent must give the employer a signed statement with supporting proof.⁸

What Your Employer Is Supposed to Do

Employers who hire five or more workers between the ages of 14 and 17 must register those employees in the state’s Youth Employment System (YES), an online portal run by the Indiana Department of Labor. The employer enters each teen’s name, age, and hire date, and keeps the record current.⁹ Employers with four or fewer minor employees aren’t required to use the system, though they can register voluntarily. Either way, every Indiana employer has to follow the child labor rules on hours, ages, and prohibited jobs.

The state can fine employers who break those rules. For hour infractions of 30 minutes or less and posting violations, penalties start with a warning letter, move to $50 per instance for a second violation, $75 for a third, and $100 for a fourth or later. For more serious problems like failing to register minors in YES, hour violations over 30 minutes, employing someone underage, or putting a minor on hazardous work, the schedule runs from a warning letter to $100, then $200, then $400 per instance.¹⁰ Penalties are assessed per violation and per minor, so a single bad schedule can produce separate fines for each affected teen. If you suspect your employer is scheduling you outside legal hours or putting you in a prohibited role, the Indiana Department of Labor is where that gets reported.

1
Indiana Department of Labor. New Youth-Employment Law Goes Fully Into Effect
2
Indiana Department of Labor. Youth Employment Home
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations
4
Indiana Department of Labor. Changes to Youth Employment Laws
5
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 570 – Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Non-Agricultural Jobs – 14-15
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Cooking and Baking under the Federal Child Labor Provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
8
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 22-2-18.1-16 – Employment of Minors Less Than 16
9
Indiana Department of Labor. Youth Employment System (YES)
10
Indiana Department of Labor. Fees, Fines, and Penalties