Louisiana Minor Work Permit Application: Forms, Consent, and Hour Limits

The Louisiana minor work permit application is a one-page form called the Application to Employ Minors Under Age 18. The employer fills out the job details at the top, the minor completes the middle with personal and school information, a parent or guardian signs consent at the bottom, and the minor then hand-delivers the signed form and proof of age to an authorized issuing officer, who prints the actual Employment Certificate. The certificate — not the application — is what lets a business legally put someone under 18 on payroll.

Where to Get the Form

The current version of the application is a downloadable PDF on the Louisiana Workforce Commission website.¹ Paper copies are also kept at local school board offices and high school guidance offices. Employers in industries that regularly hire teenagers often keep blank forms on hand, so ask when you interview.

What the Employer Fills In

The top of the form is the employer’s section. The required fields are:

Business name (DBA).
EAN, meaning the employer’s Louisiana State UI Tax ID number — this is the state unemployment insurance account number, not a federal EIN.
Work address — the specific street address where the minor will actually work, not a corporate headquarters located elsewhere.
Phone number and contact email.
Job title and a short description of the duties (cashier, food service, lifeguard, sales clerk, and so on).
Proposed hours of work, broken out day by day from Sunday through Saturday, with start and stop times.
Employer representative’s printed name, title, and signature.

The job description and proposed schedule aren’t formalities. The issuing officer uses them to check whether the position is on the prohibited-occupation list and whether the hours fit legal limits for the minor’s age. Vague entries like “general duties” slow things down; list the actual tasks.¹

What the Minor Fills In

The middle section collects the minor’s information:

Full name, age, sex, and date of birth.
Home address, city, state, and zip code.
Mobile phone number and email address.
School name and parish.
Anticipated graduation or GED date.
Whether this is the minor’s first paid job.
Post-graduation plans — work, continue education, join the military, or unsure.

The school and graduation fields matter because most hour restrictions turn on whether school is in session. A minor who has already earned a High School Equivalency Diploma through the GED is treated the same as a high school graduate for work-hour purposes.¹

Proof of Age the Minor Must Bring

The minor has to present one document proving age when they submit the application. Louisiana law accepts any of the following:²

Birth certificate or short-form birth certification card, or a signed statement from the recorder of births.
Baptismal certificate showing date and place of birth.
Bible record of birth recorded at or near the time of birth.
Passport or certificate of arrival in the United States showing the minor’s age, dated at least two years before the application.
Life insurance policy on the minor, dated at least two years before the application.
School record or school ID showing the minor’s age.
A current valid Louisiana driver’s license or state-issued ID with the minor’s date of birth.
A parent or guardian affidavit showing the minor’s name and date and place of birth, but only when none of the documents above can be produced.

For most teenagers, a driver’s license or school ID is the simplest option. The parent affidavit is a last resort; the issuing officer will accept it only if the minor genuinely cannot produce any of the other documents.

Parent or Guardian Consent

The bottom of the form is a consent statement that a parent or legal guardian must sign. The parent prints their own name and the minor’s name, signs, and provides a phone number, email, and the date. That signature confirms the parent has reviewed the job description and proposed schedule and agrees to let the minor work under those conditions.¹ No issuing officer will process an application without it. Employer signature, minor’s information, and parent consent all need to be complete before the minor walks in; a form with a blank signature line gets sent back.

Where to Submit It

The minor personally delivers the completed, fully signed application, along with proof of age, to an authorized issuing officer. Issuing officers are typically found at:¹

The minor’s high school, usually through the guidance office.
The local school board office.
An American Job Center, which is a Louisiana workforce development office.

The officer reviews the application, checks the job against the prohibited-occupation list, checks the proposed hours against the legal limits for the minor’s age, and confirms the proof-of-age document matches the application. If everything is in order, the officer prints the official Employment Certificate on the spot. There is no fee and no waiting period when the paperwork is complete.

The minor then delivers the certificate to the employer, who is required to keep the original at the worksite with the minor’s other employment records under Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:182.¹ The certificate is employer-specific. If the minor takes a different job later, they have to file a new application, because the issuing officer must verify the new position’s duties and schedule.

Hour Limits to Match on the Schedule

The proposed schedule you write into the application has to fall inside Louisiana’s hour caps. Officers reject schedules that exceed the limits, so getting them right the first time saves a trip.

Ages 14 and 15

During a school week, no more than three hours on a school day and no more than 18 hours for the week. When school is not in session, up to eight hours per day, 40 hours per week, and no more than six days worked.³ These match the federal Fair Labor Standards Act limits for this age group.⁴ Any 14- or 15-year-old working a five-hour stretch has to get at least a 30-minute meal break inside that stretch.⁵ If the schedule shows a five-hour shift without one, the officer will flag it.

Ages 16 and 17

Louisiana does not set a specific daily or weekly hour cap for 16- and 17-year-olds. The main restriction is on time of day before school days.

Time of Day

Louisiana also limits when a minor can start and stop:

Under 16: no work before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. From June 1 through Labor Day, the evening cutoff moves to 9:00 p.m.³
Age 16, not yet graduated: no work between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. before any school day.⁶
Age 17, not yet graduated: no work between 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. before any school day.⁶

A “school day” is any day the local superintendent has designated as school-in-session for the district where the minor lives. On non-school days and during summer, the nighttime restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds don’t apply. Local curfew ordinances can be tighter, so check the parish or city rules too.⁶

Jobs That Will Get the Application Denied

Some jobs are off-limits to every worker under 18 in Louisiana, regardless of parental consent or how few hours are involved. If the duties on the application fall into one of these categories, the officer will deny the certificate:⁷

Mines, quarries, stone-cutting, foundries, smelters, forging shops, hot rolling mills, and heat treatment of metals.
Manufacturing, using, or transporting explosives or explosive components.
Oiling or cleaning machinery in operation, operating power-driven woodworking or metal-working machines, and running freight or passenger elevators.
Sawmills, cooperage mills, and logging operations.
Spray painting and work involving exposure to lead, poisonous dyes, or dangerous chemicals.
Driving on public roads as part of the job is off-limits for minors 16 and under. A 17-year-old may drive, but only if driving takes up no more than one-third of the workday and no more than 20 percent of the workweek.
Establishments whose main business is selling alcohol. A minor may work at a restaurant or store that holds a liquor permit as long as their duties don’t involve selling, mixing, or serving alcoholic beverages.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission secretary can add occupations to this list after a public hearing, so the list can grow over time.

What Happens If an Employer Skips the Certificate

Hiring a minor without a valid Employment Certificate on file, or violating any other provision of Louisiana’s child labor statutes, carries both criminal and civil penalties. The criminal fine is $100 to $500, with imprisonment of 30 days to six months, or both. A separate civil penalty of up to $500 applies per violation.⁸ Keeping the original certificate at the worksite and making sure the minor’s actual schedule matches what was approved on the application are the simplest ways to avoid problems during a Workforce Commission inspection.

1
Louisiana Workforce Commission. Application to Employ Minors Under Age 18
2
Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:184 – Requirements for Issuance
3
Louisiana Workforce Commission. Louisiana Minor Labor Law Placard
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations
5
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:213 – Minors Under Sixteen; Recreation or Meal Period
6
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:214 – Hours of Employment
7
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:161 – Minors; Prohibited Employments
8
Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:231 – Specific Violations; Penalties; Enforcement