In Indiana, a 16-year-old can work as late as the employer wants to schedule them. Since January 1, 2025, the state has eliminated every restriction on hours and time of day for 16 and 17-year-olds, and federal law has never set such limits for this age group. A closing shift that ends at 2 a.m. on a school night is legal.
What the 2025 Law Changed
Before 2025, Indiana capped 16 and 17-year-olds at nine hours a day and 40 hours during school weeks (48 during non-school weeks). Work was blocked before 6:00 a.m. and generally after 10:00 p.m. on nights before school days, though a parent’s written consent could push the cutoff to 11:00 p.m. A six-day-per-week maximum applied too.
House Enrolled Act 1093, signed in 2024 and effective January 1, 2025, wiped out all of those restrictions for 16 and 17-year-olds. The state now treats them the same as adult workers for scheduling purposes.1Indiana Department of Labor. Changes to Youth Employment Laws No parental permission is required for a 16-year-old to work late or long hours.2Indiana Department of Labor. Youth Employment Home
Federal law under the Fair Labor Standards Act has never limited hours or time of day for 16 and 17-year-olds in non-hazardous jobs. The FLSA allows this age group to work unlimited hours in any occupation not declared hazardous.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations With Indiana’s state caps gone, there is no legal ceiling on when or how long a 16-year-old can work, provided the job itself is not hazardous.
The Meal Break That Still Applies
One scheduling protection survives. Indiana requires employers to give any worker under 18 at least 30 minutes of break time, taken in one or two rest periods, when the minor is scheduled for six or more consecutive hours. That is actually more than the state requires for adults, who have no general meal-break law. On an eight-hour closing shift, the employer owes the break regardless of when the shift falls.
Jobs a 16-Year-Old Still Cannot Do
Unlimited hours does not mean unlimited tasks. Federal hazardous occupation orders still bar workers under 18 from 17 categories of dangerous work, and Indiana continues to mirror those federal prohibitions.1Indiana Department of Labor. Changes to Youth Employment Laws Several of these come up in the kinds of restaurant, grocery, and retail jobs teens actually take.
Common tasks a 16-year-old cannot perform include:
- Operating, cleaning, or hand-washing disassembled parts of power-driven meat slicers, saws, or choppers, including when used on cheese or vegetables.
- Operating commercial dough mixers, dough rollers, sheeters, and similar power-driven bakery equipment.
- Operating or riding on forklifts, skid-steer loaders, scissor lifts, boom trucks, or cranes.
- Operating band saws, chain saws, woodchippers, or power-driven sanders.
- Operating cardboard balers or trash compactors, a frequent issue in retail stockrooms.
- Driving a motor vehicle on public roads, or working as an outside helper loading and unloading.
- Most tasks in roofing operations, wrecking and demolition, or work in trenches deeper than four feet.
The full list of hazardous occupation orders sits in federal regulation.4eCFR. 29 CFR Part 570 – Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation HEA 1093 did carve out one Indiana-specific exception, allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to work in hazardous agricultural occupations that federal law would otherwise prohibit.5LegiScan. Indiana House Bill 1093 – Employment of Minors That exception applies only to agriculture. It does not loosen the rules for restaurant equipment, construction, or any other industry.
Pay and Overtime
A 16-year-old is paid under the same wage rules as any other worker. Indiana’s minimum wage follows the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. Overtime under the FLSA kicks in once a minor works more than 40 hours in a week, just as it does for an adult employee. If a 16-year-old pulls a 50-hour week over summer break, the last ten hours are owed at time-and-a-half.
Different Rules for Younger Teens
These changes are limited to 16 and 17-year-olds. Fourteen and 15-year-olds still face limits on how many hours they can work and how late they can stay. HEA 1093 did extend their evening cutoff to 9:00 p.m. on any day between June 1 and Labor Day, but outside that summer window, federal FLSA caps continue to apply.1Indiana Department of Labor. Changes to Youth Employment Laws If the worker in question is 15 or younger, the answer to “how late” is very different.