A 16-year-old in Louisiana can work as many hours per day and per week as the employer schedules. Neither state law nor the federal Fair Labor Standards Act puts a daily or weekly hour cap on 16- and 17-year-old workers, so full-time hours are legal, including 40 or more hours a week during the summer.1Louisiana Workforce Commission. Louisiana Minor Labor Law2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the FLSA for Nonagricultural Occupations Two scheduling rules still apply: a night-work curfew on school nights, and an eight-hour rest period between shifts.
No Daily or Weekly Cap
Once a worker turns 16, the hour limits that apply to 14- and 15-year-olds drop away. There is no state ceiling on how long a shift can run, no weekly maximum, and no distinction between school weeks and summer weeks for the purposes of total hours worked. An employer can legally schedule a 16-year-old for eight-hour shifts six days a week, or longer shifts across fewer days, provided the other rules below are followed.
Meal and rest breaks are not required either. Louisiana’s 30-minute meal break rule covers only minors under 16, so at 16 you are treated the same as an adult worker in the state when it comes to breaks during a shift.
Night Hours on School Nights
If you are 16 and still in high school, you cannot work between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. on any night before a school day.3Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 23 RS 23-215 – Minors; Minors Under Sixteen; Prohibited Hours; Maximum Work Week A school day is any day the local superintendent has designated as a day school is in session in your district. Nights before weekends, holidays, and summer days when school is out carry no state curfew for 16-year-olds, so a Friday or Saturday closing shift that runs past 11 p.m. is allowed.
If you have earned a GED and received a High School Equivalency Diploma from the Louisiana Department of Education, you are treated as a graduate, and the school-night curfew no longer applies.
Local rules can tighten the state limit but not loosen it. Some Louisiana parishes and municipalities impose their own nighttime curfews on minors, and your employer must follow whichever rule is stricter.3Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 23 RS 23-215 – Minors; Minors Under Sixteen; Prohibited Hours; Maximum Work Week
Eight Hours Off Between Shifts
Louisiana requires every working minor to get an eight-hour rest period between the end of one workday and the start of the next.1Louisiana Workforce Commission. Louisiana Minor Labor Law A close-open schedule that ends at midnight and starts again at 6 a.m. violates that rule. This is the one gap-between-shifts protection the state imposes, and it applies regardless of whether the shifts fall on a school day.
Jobs a 16-Year-Old Still Cannot Do
No hour cap does not mean any job is on the table. State law and federal hazardous-occupation orders bar workers under 18 from a range of dangerous tasks, including:
- Cleaning, oiling, or wiping machinery, or applying belts to pulleys.
- Working in or around mines, quarries, or stone-cutting operations.
- Operating power-driven saws, lathes, metal-forming machines, or punching or shearing machines.
- Any logging operations or sawmill work.
- Driving a motor vehicle on a public road for work purposes at age 16.
- Working in establishments whose primary business is selling alcoholic beverages.
Federal rules add restrictions that show up often in restaurants and delis. Workers under 18 cannot operate power-driven meat slicers, saws, or choppers, and the ban holds even when the machine is being used on cheese or vegetables rather than meat. Power-driven bakery machines such as commercial dough mixers and dough sheeters are also off-limits, with narrow exceptions for certain lightweight countertop mixers and small pizza dough rollers.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the FLSA for Nonagricultural Occupations
You Need a Work Permit Before Starting
Every worker under 18 in Louisiana needs an employment certificate on file with the employer before the first shift. The paperwork moves in this order:
- The employer fills out the Application to Employ Minors form, listing the job, the hours, and the wage.
- A parent or legal guardian signs the form giving written permission.
- The minor provides proof of age, such as a birth certificate, passport, Louisiana driver’s license, school ID showing age, or state-issued ID card.
- The completed form and proof of age go to the parish or city superintendent of schools, or their designee, who enters the information into the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s online system and prints the certificate.
- The minor delivers the signed original to the employer, who keeps it on file for the duration of the job.
The application form is on the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s website, and the state charges no fee for the certificate.5Louisiana Workforce Commission. Employment for Minors
What Those Hours Have to Pay
Louisiana has no state minimum wage, so the federal rate of $7.25 per hour applies to covered employers, and age does not reduce it.6U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws An employer may pay a training wage of $4.25 per hour during a worker’s first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment, after which the full $7.25 floor applies.