How Many Hours Can a Minor Work in Texas? Limits by Age

In Texas, how many hours a minor can work depends almost entirely on age. Children under 14 generally cannot work at all. Teens who are 14 or 15 are capped at 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours during a school week under federal law, with longer hours allowed when school is out. Once a worker turns 16, neither Texas nor federal law limits the number of hours or the time of day, though school attendance rules and hazardous-job bans still apply.

Hours for 14 and 15-Year-Olds

This age group is where the hour limits actually bite, and two sets of rules overlap: Texas state law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Employers covered by the FLSA (most businesses with at least $500,000 in annual sales) have to follow whichever rule is stricter. During the school year, that is almost always the federal rule.

Federal Limits Under the FLSA

Federal regulations keep 14 and 15-year-olds on a tight schedule and only allow work outside school hours:¹

School days, including Fridays: no more than 3 hours.
School weeks: no more than 18 hours total.
Non-school days: up to 8 hours.
Non-school weeks: up to 40 hours.
Time of day: work must fall between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. during the school year. From June 1 through Labor Day, the evening cutoff moves to 9 p.m.

Texas State Limits

Texas sets its own, more lenient caps. A 14 or 15-year-old can work up to 8 hours in a day and up to 48 hours in a week under state law.² The state’s time-of-day rules are also looser:

Nights before a school day: no work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Non-school nights: no work between midnight and 5 a.m.
Summer, if the child is not enrolled in summer school: no work between midnight and 5 a.m.

These state caps are the controlling rules only for employers not covered by the FLSA, such as very small businesses. For most Texas employers, the federal 3-hour school-day cap and 7 p.m. curfew are what govern.³

Hardship Exemption

If a 14 or 15-year-old can show financial hardship, the Texas Workforce Commission may waive the state hour limits for that individual child. The waiver only affects state limits and does not override the federal FLSA caps.²

Hours for 16 and 17-Year-Olds

At 16, the hour picture changes completely. Neither Texas law nor the FLSA caps how many hours a 16 or 17-year-old can work, and there are no time-of-day limits either.³ A 17-year-old can legally pull a 60-hour week or work an overnight shift.

Two practical limits still apply. Texas requires school attendance until a student’s 19th birthday, with narrow exceptions for students in a high school equivalency program, so a schedule that collides with school hours can create truancy problems. The TWC specifically tells employers to make sure work schedules do not conflict with school attendance or local curfew laws.³

The second limit is job type. Federal law bars anyone under 18 from occupations the Secretary of Labor has classified as hazardous, including roofing, excavation work, most driving, mining, work with explosives, logging, operating forklifts and other hoisting equipment, and running power-driven metal-forming, woodworking, bakery, or meat-processing machinery.⁴ For 14 and 15-year-olds the prohibited list is even broader, essentially closing off manufacturing, mining, and processing work entirely.

Children Under 14

Both Texas and federal law prohibit employing children under 14 in most jobs, and violations are a criminal offense for the employer. The exceptions are narrow.

Texas allows a child under 14 to work in these situations:²

In a business owned or operated by a parent or legal custodian, in non-hazardous work, under that parent or custodian’s direct supervision.
Delivering newspapers on a route, which is allowed starting at age 11. Direct public sales of newspapers require the child to be at least 16.
Performing in film, theater, radio, or television productions, with TWC authorization.
Casual non-hazardous work that does not endanger the child, with parental consent.

Federal law has a similar list, with one notable difference: the federal parental-business exemption covers children under 16, not just under 14, and does not require direct supervision the way Texas law does.⁵

Agricultural Work Follows Different Rules

Farm work has its own federal framework, and the age thresholds drop. This matters in Texas, where agricultural jobs are common.

16 and older: no restrictions on hours, days, or job type in agriculture.
14 and 15: any farm, non-hazardous jobs only, outside school hours.
12 and 13: with written parental consent, or on the same farm where a parent works, in non-hazardous jobs outside school hours.
Under 12: only on small farms (those that used fewer than 500 “man-days” of labor in any quarter of the previous year), in non-hazardous jobs, outside school hours, with parental permission. A “man-day” is any day a worker logged at least one hour.⁶

Hazardous agricultural work, such as operating certain tractors or handling pesticides, is off-limits for anyone under 16.

What a Minor Earns Per Hour

Texas does not set its own minimum wage and adopts the federal rate of $7.25 per hour.⁷ There is no separate lower minimum for minors as a class, but the FLSA does let employers pay a youth minimum wage of $4.25 per hour to workers under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. The 90-day clock runs on the calendar, counting weekends and days off, not just days actually worked. After 90 days or when the worker turns 20, whichever comes first, the rate rises to at least $7.25.⁸

What Happens When Employers Break the Rules

Texas child labor violations carry both civil and criminal consequences. The TWC can assess administrative penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, with the amount based on the seriousness of the violation, the employer’s history, and what it takes to deter future problems.⁹

Most child labor violations are a Class B misdemeanor under Texas law. Violations involving the use of children for sales, solicitation, or work at sexually oriented businesses are elevated to a Class A misdemeanor.³ Parents who think an employer is scheduling their teen outside the legal limits can file a complaint with the TWC, which has authority to inspect workplaces where it believes a child is or recently was employed.

1
eCFR. 29 CFR 570.35 – Hours and Time Standards
2
Texas Workforce Commission. Texas Labor Code Chapter 51 – Employment of Children
3
Texas Workforce Commission. Child Labor
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43 – Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations
5
eCFR. 29 CFR 570.126 – Parental Exemption
6
U.S. Department of Labor. FLSA – Child Labor Rules
7
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #32 – Youth Minimum Wage – Fair Labor Standards Act
9
State of Texas. Texas Labor Code Section 51.033 – Administrative Penalty