A 16-year-old in Massachusetts can work up to 9 hours a day, 48 hours a week, and no more than 6 days in any week. Those caps stay the same whether school is in session or not. The tighter day-to-day limits for a 16-year-old come from the time-of-day rules, not the weekly total.1Mass.gov. Massachusetts Laws Regulating Minors’ Work Hours
The Daily and Weekly Caps
Massachusetts sets one hour ceiling for 16-year-olds that applies all year:1Mass.gov. Massachusetts Laws Regulating Minors’ Work Hours
- 9 hours per day
- 48 hours per week
- 6 days per week maximum
These numbers sometimes surprise parents and students who expect lower school-year limits. The 3-hour school-day and 18-hour school-week caps you may see online are federal rules for 14- and 15-year-olds. They don’t apply once you turn 16.
When You Can Work
The time-of-day rules do most of the real limiting. They split based on whether the next day is a school day:1Mass.gov. Massachusetts Laws Regulating Minors’ Work Hours
- Nights before a school day: 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. If the business stops serving customers at 10:00 p.m., you can stay until 10:15 p.m. to help close.
- Nights before a non-school day: 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
- Restaurants and racetracks: on non-school nights, 16-year-olds can work until midnight.
The After 8 P.M. Supervision Rule
Any time a 16-year-old is working past 8:00 p.m., an adult supervisor has to be physically present and accessible in the workplace. It applies to every type of job. The one carve-out is for minors working at a kiosk, cart, or stand in the common area of an enclosed shopping mall with its own on-site security.2Mass.gov. Work Hours Restrictions for Minors
What a School-Week Schedule Actually Looks Like
The 9-hour daily cap is the legal maximum, but a weekday during the school year rarely gets anywhere near it. School typically ends around 2:00 or 3:00 p.m., and work has to stop by 10:00 p.m. on school nights. That leaves roughly 7 hours at the outside, before accounting for the commute, homework, and a meal break. Weekends, school vacations, and summer open up the full 9-hour day and the later evening cutoffs.
Meal Break at Six Hours
Any shift longer than 6 hours triggers a required meal break of at least 30 minutes. During the break you have to be free of all duties and free to leave the workplace, and your employer doesn’t have to pay you for it.3Mass.gov. Breaks and Time Off Shifts of 6 hours or less don’t require a meal break under state law.
You Need a Work Permit First
None of these hours are legal without an employment permit. Every worker under 18 in Massachusetts must have one on file before starting a new job — not after the first shift, not during orientation. The superintendent of schools in the city or town where you live or attend school issues it. If you live outside Massachusetts but will be working in the state, the superintendent for the community where the job is located issues it instead.4Mass.gov. Youth Employment Permit Information
A permit is tied to a specific job. If you change employers, or even switch to a different location of the same employer, you need a new one.4Mass.gov. Youth Employment Permit Information The employer keeps it on file the whole time you work there.5General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part I, Title XXI, Chapter 149, Section 87
Hours Don’t Make a Prohibited Job Legal
Staying within the hour limits doesn’t let a 16-year-old take a job that’s otherwise off-limits. Massachusetts bars all workers under 18 from a long list of hazardous tasks, including driving on the job, operating forklifts, serving alcohol, using power-driven meat slicers, bakery machines, woodworking equipment, or saws, roofing or work 30 feet or more above the ground, demolition and excavation, and any job requiring possession of a firearm.6Mass.gov. Prohibited Jobs for Minors These prohibitions apply no matter how many hours are scheduled, and parental permission doesn’t override them.
If an Employer Breaks the Rules
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division enforces child labor laws.7Mass.gov. Working Under 18 If you’re scheduled past legal hours, working without a permit, or being assigned prohibited tasks, you can file a complaint with the division at (617) 727-3465.1Mass.gov. Massachusetts Laws Regulating Minors’ Work Hours You don’t need a lawyer to file, and retaliating against a minor for reporting a violation is itself a violation.