Indiana Child Labor Laws: Ages, Hours, and 2025 Changes

Indiana child labor laws set 14 as the minimum age for most jobs, impose strict hour and time-of-day limits on 14- and 15-year-olds, and, as of January 1, 2025, no longer cap the hours a 16- or 17-year-old can work. Federal hazardous-occupation rules still apply to every worker under 18, and employers with five or more minor employees must register them in the state’s Youth Employment System.

Minimum Working Age

Indiana prohibits employment of children under 14 in any gainful occupation. Three narrow exceptions exist: children under 14 may work as farm laborers, domestic service workers, or golf caddies. Even within those, a child under 12 cannot perform farm labor unless the farm is operated by the child’s parent.¹

No minor under 16 may work during school hours on a school day, regardless of the job. The restriction has limited exceptions for minors who have graduated high school, completed eighth grade and been excused from compulsory attendance, or been expelled.²

Hours for 14- and 15-Year-Olds

Workers who are at least 14 but under 16 face both daily and weekly caps, plus time-of-day limits.³

Up to 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week.
Up to 8 hours on a nonschool day and 40 hours in a nonschool week.
No work before 7:00 a.m.
No work after 7:00 p.m. on any day that precedes a school day.
From June 1 through Labor Day, the evening cutoff extends to 9:00 p.m. on days that do not precede a school day.

The summer extension is narrower than many schedulers assume. If a school day falls the next morning, the 7:00 p.m. cutoff still applies even in July. Check the next day’s calendar before posting an evening shift.

A 14- or 15-year-old is exempt from the school-day and school-week caps if they have graduated high school early, completed eighth grade and been excused from compulsory attendance with a signed parental statement, been expelled without an alternative school requirement, or are under a court order barring them from school.²

What Changed in 2025 for 16- and 17-Year-Olds

Public Law 133-2024 repealed Indiana’s hour caps, nightwork curfews, and parental-consent extensions for 16- and 17-year-olds effective January 1, 2025. Sections 18 through 21 and 23.5 of Chapter 18.1 are all gone.⁴

Before the change, Indiana limited 16- and 17-year-olds to 30 hours per week during the school year (40 with parental permission) and imposed a 10:00 p.m. curfew on school nights. None of those limits remain. A 16- or 17-year-old can now work the same hours as an adult, including overnight shifts, with no state cap on weekly hours.

Federal rules still apply. The Fair Labor Standards Act’s hazardous-occupation orders remain in force, so 16- and 17-year-olds cannot perform federally prohibited tasks regardless of what state law allows.

Rest Breaks for Minor Employees

Every worker under 18 scheduled for six or more consecutive hours is entitled to rest breaks totaling at least 30 minutes. The break can be taken in one period or split into two as long as the combined time reaches 30 minutes.⁵ Indiana does not require meal or rest breaks for adult employees, so the rule is specific to minors.⁶

Hazardous Occupations

No minor under 18 may be assigned to an occupation designated as hazardous. Indiana adopts the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s hazardous-occupation orders, which cover 17 categories.⁷ Common examples include:⁸

Manufacturing or storing explosives.
Coal mining and other mining operations.
Logging, sawmill work, and forest firefighting.
Power-driven woodworking, metal-forming, bakery, and saw machines.
All roofing operations and any work on or near a roof.
Excavation, trenching, and demolition.
Exposure to radioactive substances.
Meat and poultry processing, including power-driven slicing machines.

Two exceptions matter in practice. First, 16- and 17-year-olds working in agriculture are exempt from Indiana’s hazardous-occupation prohibition, reflecting the looser federal standard for agricultural work.⁷ Second, a minor working on a farm owned or operated by their parent is not subject to the hazardous-occupation ban at all, though that carve-out applies only to agricultural operations.

Driving as Part of the Job

Driving a motor vehicle on public roads is one of the 17 federal hazardous occupations, so 16-year-olds cannot drive for work. A 17-year-old can drive, but only if every one of the following conditions is met:⁹

Daylight hours only.
Vehicle gross weight no more than 6,000 pounds.
Valid state license, state-approved driver education course completed, and no moving violations at the time of hire.
Driving takes up no more than one-third of any workday or 20 percent of weekly work time.
No route deliveries, no transporting passengers for hire, no urgent time-sensitive deliveries.
No driving more than 30 miles from the workplace, and no more than two delivery trips per day.

An employer who lets a 17-year-old drive a delivery vehicle or company car without meeting every condition is violating federal law.

Employer Registration in the Youth Employment System

Indiana eliminated paper work permits in 2021 and replaced them with the Youth Employment System (YES), an online registry managed by the Indiana Department of Labor at er.dol.in.gov.¹⁰

Registration is mandatory for any employer with five or more minor employees ages 14 to 17. Employers with four or fewer may register voluntarily.¹¹ The threshold is per employer, not per location, so a chain with three minors at one store and three at another has crossed the line.

Registered employers must enter business information, email, and the number of minors they employ. Any new or changed information about a qualifying location, and the names and numbers of minors at each location, must be entered on or before the fifteenth and last business day of each month.¹⁰ When a minor leaves the company for any reason, the employer must remove that worker from the portal; failure to do so is a specific basis for a fine.

Before registering any minor, verify age with a government-issued document such as a birth certificate, passport, or state identification card. Keep the verification on file. Federal law requires employers to record the birth date of every employee under 19 and to retain payroll records for at least three years.¹²

Penalties

Indiana’s penalty structure separates minor infractions from serious violations, and both schedules escalate with each repeat inspection within a two-year window.¹³

Minor infractions include posting violations and hour violations of 30 minutes or less. A time violation of 10 minutes or less draws no fine. Beyond that:

First inspection: warning letter.
Second inspection: $50 per instance.
Third inspection: $75 per instance.
Fourth or later inspection within two years: $100 per instance.

Serious violations cover registration failures, hour violations over 30 minutes, age violations, and hazardous-occupation violations:

First inspection: warning letter.
Second inspection: $100 per instance.
Third inspection: $200 per instance.
Fourth or later inspection within two years: $400 per instance.

Each affected minor counts as a separate instance, so fines accumulate quickly across a crew. Two clean years reset the escalation.

Tax Rule for Parents Who Hire Their Own Children

Wages paid to a minor are subject to federal income tax withholding like any other wages. A targeted federal exemption applies when a parent employs their own child through a sole proprietorship or a single-member LLC taxed as a disregarded entity: wages paid to a child under 18 are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes, and wages paid to a child under 21 are exempt from federal unemployment tax.¹⁴

The exemption does not apply if the business is an S corporation or C corporation; normal payroll taxes apply to every employee, child included. The work also has to be real: age-appropriate tasks, reasonable pay, and proper time records. Earned wages are not subject to the kiddie tax, which reaches only unearned investment income.

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 22-2-18.1-12 – Employment Limitations and Prohibitions for Certain Minors; Exceptions
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 22-2-18.1-16 – Employment of Minors Less Than 16 Years of Age; Exceptions
3
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 22-2-18.1-17 – Employment of Minors at Least 14 Years of Age and Less Than 16 Years of Age
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 22-2-18.1-20 – Repealed
5
Indiana Department of Labor. Teen Work Hours
6
Indiana State Government. Is There Any Information Regarding Indiana Lunch or Breaks Laws
7
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 22-2-18.1-23 – Prohibition on Working in a Hazardous Occupation; Exceptions
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Non-Hazardous Occupation – elaws – Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #34: Hazardous Occupations Order No. 2 – Youth Employment in Jobs Involving Driving
10
Indiana Department of Labor. Youth Employment Home
11
Indiana Department of Labor. Youth Employment System (YES)
12
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #21: Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
13
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 22-2-18.1-30 – Civil Penalties
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 3121 – Definitions