In Iowa, there is no legal cap on how many hours a 16-year-old can work. Once you turn 16, state law lets you work the same hours as an adult: no daily maximum, no weekly maximum, and no required meal break. One narrow rule still applies to anyone under 18 — you cannot deliver goods or messages between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.1Justia Law. Iowa Code Section 92.7A – Sixteen and Seventeen – Hours Permitted2Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code Section 92.8 – Under Eighteen – Prohibited Work Activities
No Daily or Weekly Limits
Iowa Code §92.7A treats 16- and 17-year-olds the same as adult workers for scheduling purposes. There is no 8-hour daily limit. There is no 40-hour weekly limit. There is no mandated 30-minute break, even on a long shift.1Justia Law. Iowa Code Section 92.7A – Sixteen and Seventeen – Hours Permitted A 16-year-old can legally be scheduled for a 10- or 12-hour shift, back-to-back shifts, or weeks that run well past 40 hours. Individual employers may still offer breaks as a matter of policy, but Iowa’s child labor law does not require them.
Federal law takes the same approach. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not restrict the number of hours or the times of day that workers 16 and older may be employed in non-agricultural jobs.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations
Iowa also makes no distinction between school weeks and summer weeks for 16-year-olds. Workers under 16 are capped at 28 hours a week when school is in session and 40 when it isn’t, but that reduction disappears at age 16.4Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code Section 92.7 – Under Sixteen – Hours Permitted A junior working after school can keep the same hours in October that they worked in July.
The One Time-of-Day Exception
The only clock restriction left for a 16-year-old is tied to the type of work, not the job itself. Iowa Code §92.8(19) bars anyone under 18 from transmitting, distributing, or delivering goods or messages between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.2Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code Section 92.8 – Under Eighteen – Prohibited Work Activities A 16-year-old can close a restaurant at midnight or stock shelves overnight, but cannot run food deliveries or courier packages during those hours.
The rule applies year-round. There is no summer extension and no school-year change. It’s the only time-of-day limit Iowa places on this age group.
School Attendance Can Still Get in the Way
The labor code won’t stop a 16-year-old from working during school hours, but Iowa’s compulsory attendance law might. Children generally must be enrolled in school until age 16. If you turned 16 on or after September 15, you remain subject to the attendance requirement through the end of that school year.5Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code Section 299.1A – Compulsory Attendance Age Scheduling a shift during the school day is a problem with your school, not with the Wage and Child Labor Unit.
What a 16-Year-Old Still Can’t Do
Hour flexibility comes with a tradeoff. Iowa Code §92.8 lists more than 20 categories of hazardous work that are off-limits to anyone under 18 regardless of how many hours they work. Major examples include manufacturing or storing explosives, operating certain power-driven woodworking or metalworking machines, running hoisting equipment like elevators, work involving radioactive materials, and construction tasks such as roofing, excavation, and demolition.6Justia Law. Iowa Code Section 92.8 – Under Eighteen – Prohibited Work Activities
Driving is the restriction that catches the most 16-year-olds off guard. Under the federal Hazardous Occupations Order No. 2, no employee under 17 may drive a motor vehicle on public roads as part of their job, and no one under 18 may ride on the outside of a vehicle as a delivery helper.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 34 – Hazardous Occupations Order No. 2 – Driving Automobiles and Trucks Pizza delivery, courier work, and similar roles are off the table at 16 even where Iowa’s own list doesn’t name them.
Two exemptions open the door wider. A child working in a business operated by their parents, including a family farm, is exempt from the entire child labor chapter under Iowa Code §92.17.8Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code Section 92.17 – Exceptions Student learners enrolled in a cooperative vocational or work-based learning program can also perform some otherwise-prohibited tasks when the work is incidental to training, intermittent, short in duration, and directly supervised, with a written school-employer agreement on file.9eCFR. Subpart E – Occupations Particularly Hazardous for the Employment of Minors Between 16 and 18 Years of Age
Breaks, Pay, and Paperwork
No work permit is required at 16. Iowa only requires permits for 14- and 15-year-olds.10U.S. Department of Labor. Employment/Age Certificate An employer may still ask for a Certificate of Age to confirm you are old enough to work without the under-16 restrictions. Local school officials and Iowa Workforce Development Centers issue them for free, using a certified birth certificate, passport, or certified baptismal record as proof.11University of Iowa Public Health. Hiring Iowa Teens – A Guide for Employers about Iowa Child Labor Law
On pay, Iowa’s minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, matching the federal rate.12U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws Iowa has no separate youth minimum, but federal law lets employers pay a training rate of $4.25 per hour to any worker under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days with that employer. After that window, pay must rise to at least the standard minimum.
On breaks, nothing in Iowa’s child labor chapter requires a meal or rest break for a 16-year-old, however long the shift runs. If a break matters to you, confirm the employer’s own policy before accepting the schedule.