A 16-year-old in New York can work up to 28 hours per week while school is in session and up to 48 hours per week when school is closed for the full week. Daily limits sit underneath those weekly caps and shift depending on whether tomorrow is a school day. New York Labor Law Section 143 sets the full framework.1New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 143 – Hours of Work for Minors Sixteen and Seventeen Years of Age
The quick version:
- School in session: up to 28 hours per week, up to 6 days per week.
- School not in session: up to 48 hours per week, up to 6 days per week.
- Earliest start time: 6:00 AM, in all cases.
Daily Limits When School Is in Session
The weekly 28-hour cap is only half the picture. Daily limits control how those hours can be arranged, and they are stricter than most people expect.1New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 143 – Hours of Work for Minors Sixteen and Seventeen Years of Age
- On days before a school day (typically Monday through Thursday): no more than 4 hours. Students in an approved Department of Education cooperative work-experience program can work up to 6 hours on these days, but only on shifts tied to that program.
- On Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays: up to 8 hours.
So a five-hour Tuesday shift is illegal even if the weekly total stays under 28. The daily cap controls, not the weekly one. In practice, this pushes most school-year schedules toward short after-school weeknight shifts and longer weekend shifts.
Hours During Summer and School Breaks
Once school is closed for the entire calendar week — summer vacation, winter break, spring break, or any other full-week closure — the limits loosen. The weekly ceiling becomes 48 hours, the daily maximum is 8 hours, and the 6-day-per-week limit still applies.1New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 143 – Hours of Work for Minors Sixteen and Seventeen Years of Age
Section 143 also includes a flexibility provision for non-school weeks. To build in a shorter workday or a full day off, an employer can schedule up to 10 hours on one day and up to 9 hours on as many as four other days, as long as the 48-hour weekly cap is not exceeded.1New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 143 – Hours of Work for Minors Sixteen and Seventeen Years of Age A teen working a summer job can trade a couple of longer shifts for a free weekday.
How Early and How Late a 16-Year-Old Can Work
No 16-year-old in New York can start work before 6:00 AM. The evening cutoff depends on what tomorrow is and whether the employer has the right paperwork on file.1New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 143 – Hours of Work for Minors Sixteen and Seventeen Years of Age
Nights Before a School Day
The default end time is 10:00 PM. An employer can extend that until midnight only if two documents are kept on file: written parental or guardian consent, and a certificate of satisfactory academic standing from the student’s school, updated at the end of each marking period.1New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 143 – Hours of Work for Minors Sixteen and Seventeen Years of Age If the school stops issuing the certificate or grades drop, the midnight extension disappears. Compliance usually breaks down on the refresh: employers collect the first certificate and forget the quarterly updates.
Nights Before a Non-School Day
Default cutoff is also 10:00 PM, with a midnight extension available on written parental consent alone. No academic certificate is required when school isn’t the next morning.1New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 143 – Hours of Work for Minors Sixteen and Seventeen Years of Age
During School Breaks
When school is not in session, the window is 6:00 AM to midnight. No work is allowed between midnight and 6:00 AM.2Department of Labor. Hours of Work for Minors
Teens Not Enrolled in Daytime School
A 16- or 17-year-old who is not enrolled in daytime school while school is in session — for example, someone who has left school for full-time work — follows the non-school-session rules year-round. That means 48 hours per week and 8 hours per day apply even in September through June, not the stricter school-year limits.
Meal Breaks on Longer Shifts
New York requires at least 30 minutes of unpaid time off when a shift runs more than six hours.3New York State Department of Labor. Day of Rest and Meal Periods The rule covers all workers, 16-year-olds included. A teen working a full 8-hour summer or weekend shift gets that break, and the employer can’t trade extra pay for the missed time or ask the minor to work through it.
One Boundary Worth Knowing
Legal hours do not open every job to a 16-year-old. Both federal law and New York state law bar minors under 18 from a long list of hazardous occupations, including power-driven meat slicers and bakery equipment, forklifts, construction work, driving on public roads, and most power woodworking machines.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations Working papers themselves exclude hazardous employment, so holding the right certificate doesn’t authorize those tasks.5New York State Department of Labor. Working Papers Hours within the caps still have to be hours on a job the law actually allows.
If an Employer Is Breaking the Rules
Under New York Labor Law Section 141, the state labor commissioner can impose civil penalties of up to $10,000 for a first child-labor violation, at least $2,000 and up to $25,000 for a second, and at least $10,000 and up to $55,000 for a third or subsequent violation. Penalties climb sharply — up to $175,000 at the third-offense tier — when the illegal employment involves a minor who is seriously injured or killed.6New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 141 – Civil Penalties
If a schedule is pushing you past the daily or weekly caps, past curfew, or into prohibited tasks, the New York State Department of Labor accepts complaints through its child labor enforcement program. Keep copies of your schedules and time records — those are the documents that make a complaint stick.