New Hampshire child labor laws, set out in RSA Chapter 276-A, control who can work, how many hours they can work, and what kinds of jobs are off-limits for anyone under 18. Children under 12 generally cannot be employed at all. Workers aged 12 through 15 need a youth employment certificate and face tight daily and weekly caps. Workers 16 and 17 can hold most jobs but still need signed parental permission on file unless they’ve finished high school, and school-year hours are limited. Hazardous occupations are closed to everyone under 18.1RSA Chapter 276-A
Who Can Work at Each Age
No one under 12 can hold a job in New Hampshire except in three narrow situations: working for a parent, grandparent, or legal guardian; casual odd jobs like babysitting or yard work with no regular employer; or door-to-door newspaper delivery.
From 12 through 15, employment is allowed only after the minor obtains a youth employment certificate. Even with the certificate, these workers cannot be hired for hazardous work, manufacturing, construction, mining, or logging. Without a certificate, they can still work for a parent, grandparent, or guardian, take on casual work, or do farm labor.
At 16 and 17, restrictions ease. These workers can take jobs in most industries without a youth employment certificate. The employer still needs a signed parental permission document on file unless the teen has already graduated from high school or earned a GED.
How Many Hours Minors Can Work
Ages 14 and 15
Hour limits for workers under 16 are the strictest in the statute. On any day school is in session, a 14- or 15-year-old can work no more than 3 hours. On non-school days, the daily cap is 8 hours. The weekly maximum is 23 hours in a school week and 48 hours during vacation. All shifts must fall between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.
The labor commissioner can suspend these hour restrictions for employers hiring under-16 workers for agricultural jobs.
Ages 16 and 17 Who Are Enrolled in School
During any week when school is in session for five days, enrolled 16- and 17-year-olds can work up to 35 hours. During school vacation (defined as June 1 through Labor Day for summer), the cap rises to 48 hours per week, and the teen cannot work more than six consecutive days. Teens who live and work at a summer camp for minors are exempt from the vacation-week limits.
RSA 276-A:13 adds a night-shift rule: any youth who works more than two nights past 8:00 p.m. (or before 6:00 a.m.) in a single week cannot work shifts longer than 8 hours during that week.2RSA 276-A:13
Ages 16 and 17 Who Are Not in School
The general adult-style limits under RSA 276-A:11 apply instead. In manufacturing, the cap is 10 hours per day or 48 hours per week. In most other work, it’s 10ΒΌ hours per day or 54 hours per week.3RSA 276-A:11
Jobs Minors Cannot Hold
No one under 18 can work in an occupation classified as hazardous under New Hampshire law. The only exception is a labor-commissioner-approved apprenticeship, vocational rehabilitation, or training program.
The hazardous list covers logging, mining, demolition, excavation, roofing, and explosives manufacturing. It bars operating forklifts, power-driven woodworking machines, power-driven saws, meat-processing slicers, and metal-forming or punching equipment. Federal Hazardous Occupation Orders add further prohibitions, including driving motor vehicles for work, operating bakery machines, working with radioactive materials, and jobs in brick or tile manufacturing.
Workers under 16 face a second tier of bans. They cannot work in any manufacturing plant, in construction, or in mining and quarrying, and they cannot work in woods or logging operations even in non-equipment roles.
Paperwork the Employer Must Keep on File
Youth Employment Certificates (Ages 12 to 15)
Any employer hiring a worker aged 12 through 15 must have a youth employment certificate on file within three business days of the minor’s first day. The process runs in a fixed sequence. The employer fills out an “Employer’s Request for Child Labor” form describing the job duties and workplace, then gives it to the young worker. The worker brings the form to a school principal (or someone the principal authorizes) or to a parent or legal guardian, who issues the actual certificate after confirming proof of age, adequate health, and satisfactory academic performance.
The certificate requires signatures from both the youth and a parent or legal guardian. The employer keeps the completed certificate at the location where the minor works, and state inspectors can ask to see it during routine visits. If the student’s academic performance later slips, the principal or parent who issued it can revoke the certificate.
Parental Permission (Ages 16 and 17)
Workers 16 and 17 don’t need a youth employment certificate, but unless they’ve graduated from high school or earned a GED, the employer must obtain and keep a signed written document from a parent or legal guardian permitting the employment. There’s no school involvement or academic check, but skipping the document still puts the employer out of compliance.
Meal Breaks
Every New Hampshire employer must provide a 30-minute meal break to any employee who works more than five consecutive hours. The rule applies to minor workers the same as to adults. The only exception is where the employee can feasibly eat while performing their duties and the employer allows it. Federal law doesn’t separately require breaks for minors, so this state rule is what governs.
Wages for Young Workers
New Hampshire doesn’t set a minimum wage above the federal floor, so employers must pay at least $7.25 per hour. Federal law allows a youth subminimum wage of $4.25 per hour for workers under 20, but only during the first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment with that employer. Those 90 days run on the calendar and keep counting even if the worker takes time off. Once the 90 days expire or the worker turns 20, the full $7.25 rate applies.
Federal law bars employers from cutting an existing worker’s hours, wages, or benefits to free up a slot for someone at the youth rate. Tipped young workers can be paid using the same tip credit rules that apply to adult tipped employees.
Family, Farm, and Other Exemptions
Children of any age can work for a parent, grandparent, or legal guardian without a certificate and without hour restrictions. Federal law takes a similar view for family businesses, though it still prohibits parents from employing their children in manufacturing, mining, or federally declared hazardous occupations.
Farm labor is treated separately. State law lets workers under 16 do farm labor without a certificate, and federal law lets children of any age work on a farm owned or operated by their parent. The labor commissioner can also suspend hour limits for under-16 agricultural workers case by case.
A few other activities sit outside the usual rules. Federal law exempts child actors and performers in film, theater, radio, or television productions. Newspaper delivery is exempt, and New Hampshire specifically allows children under 12 to deliver newspapers door to door. Casual work (occasional odd jobs rather than regular employment with a single employer) is exempt from the certificate requirement for workers under 16.
When Federal and State Rules Both Apply
Federal child labor law under the Fair Labor Standards Act covers any business with at least $500,000 in annual sales, as well as hospitals, schools, government agencies, and any employee whose work involves interstate commerce. When both federal and state rules apply, the stricter standard controls.
New Hampshire is stricter in some places (the 35-hour school-week cap for 16- and 17-year-olds has no federal counterpart, since federal law doesn’t limit hours for workers 16 and older), while federal Hazardous Occupation Orders bar some jobs the state statute doesn’t name.
Penalties for Violations
Employers who break New Hampshire’s youth employment rules face civil penalties from $100 to $2,500 per violation. The $100 minimum applies to certificate violations under RSA 276-A:5, while other violations under the chapter can draw up to $2,500. Willful non-compliance with hour-tracking and other requirements can bring Class B misdemeanor charges.4RSA 276-A:5
Federal penalties stack on top for covered employers. The U.S. Department of Labor can assess civil penalties up to $15,629 per worker for each child labor violation and up to $68,801 for any violation that causes serious injury or death to a minor. A willful federal violation can bring a criminal fine of up to $10,000, and a second willful conviction can add up to six months in prison. In 2024, a New Hampshire restaurant operator paid $151,000 after federal investigators found 20 child labor violations, including allowing a 15-year-old to use a blowtorch and another to clean a meat slicer.