Maryland Work Permit PDF: Application, Signatures, and Hour Limits

A Maryland work permit for minors is issued through the Maryland Department of Labor’s online portal after the young worker already has a job offer. A parent or the minor completes the application, the site generates a PDF, and that PDF becomes a valid permit only once the minor, a parent or guardian, and the employer have all signed it. No school office is involved, and no paper application is mailed anywhere.

Who Needs One

Every worker under 18 in Maryland needs a permit before starting a job.¹ Standard permits are not issued to anyone under 14. Children younger than that who work as models, performers, or entertainers go through a separate application handled by the Division of Labor and Industry.²

Some work does not count as “employment” for permit purposes, provided it happens outside school hours and involves no mining, manufacturing, or hazardous tasks. That includes farm work, chores in a private home, working in a parent’s business, volunteering for a nonprofit with parental consent, caddying, and delivering newspapers.²

Get the Job Offer First

The permit is tied to one specific employer, so the state will not issue one in advance. You need an actual job offer before you can apply.¹

What to Have Ready Before You Start

p>Pull these together before opening the application:

A document proving the minor’s age, such as a birth certificate, passport, or government-issued ID.
The full legal name and a working phone number for a parent or guardian.
The employer’s legal business name, the physical work address, the industry, and a specific description of the job duties. The system uses those duties to screen for prohibited work, so vague answers cause problems.

Filling Out the Application and Printing the PDF

The application is on the Department of Labor’s website under the Division of Labor and Industry’s Employment of Minors section. Either the minor or a parent can complete it.¹ The form flags missing fields before it lets you submit, and some entries cannot be changed afterward, so review carefully.

Once you submit, the site generates a PDF. Print it right away. Submitting online is not the same as having a permit. The blank spaces on the form are there for signatures and dates that still need to be added by hand.

The Three Signatures That Make It Valid

A printed permit becomes valid only after three people sign it:

The minor.
The parent or guardian.
The employer.

All three are required. A permit missing any signature has no legal effect.¹ In practice, the minor and parent usually sign at home, and the minor brings the form to the employer on or before the first day. The employer should not put the minor to work until the signed permit is in hand.

Hour and Job Limits the Permit Locks In

The permit ties the minor to specific duties for a reason: state and federal law restrict both the hours and the kinds of work minors can do.

Workers Under 16

Fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds can work up to 4 hours on a school day and 8 hours on a non-school day. Weekly caps are 23 hours during a five-day school week and 40 hours when school is out. They cannot start before 7:00 a.m. During the school year, work must end by 8:00 p.m.; from Memorial Day through Labor Day, the cutoff moves to 9:00 p.m.³

Workers 16 and 17

There are no set daily or weekly hour caps for 16- and 17-year-olds, but school hours plus work hours cannot exceed 12 in a single day, and every 24-hour period must include at least 8 consecutive hours free of both.⁴ Any minor who works more than 5 consecutive hours must get at least a 30-minute break.¹

Prohibited Jobs

Minors cannot work in hazardous occupations under state and federal law. The prohibited list includes manufacturing or storing explosives, operating power-driven saws or woodworking machines, running forklifts or hoisting equipment, roofing, demolition, mining, slaughtering, and any work involving radioactive materials.⁵ Fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds face additional limits and can only hold non-manufacturing, non-hazardous positions.⁶ If an employer later assigns tasks that fall into a prohibited category, that violates the law even if the original permit was approved.

Switching Jobs Means a New Permit

Because the permit is locked to one employer, quitting or moving to a different company voids it. A new application has to be completed for each new job.¹ Families who don’t realize this often get caught out in the summer, when a teenager may cycle through more than one seasonal position.

Employer Recordkeeping

The Department of Labor encourages employers to keep signed permits on file for three years.¹ State officials can inspect those records, and violations of Maryland child labor law can result in fines. Keep a copy at home as well, so the minor and parent have proof of what duties were approved.

1
Maryland Department of Labor. Employment of Minors (Work Permit) – Employment Standards Service (ESS) – Division of Labor and Industry
2
Maryland Department of Labor. Minor Fact Sheet
3
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 3-211 – Work Hours – Minors Under 16
4
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 3-210
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor – Prohibited Occupations for Non-Agricultural Employees
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations