Washington Child Labor Laws: Hours, Breaks & Permits

Washington’s child labor laws set 14 as the minimum working age for most jobs, tie minor pay to the state minimum wage, cap hours sharply during the school year, require a state work permit plus parental and school authorization, prohibit a long list of hazardous duties, and impose civil penalties that reach six figures when a minor is seriously hurt or killed. The Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) enforces these rules, and the state standards are often stricter than the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Who Can Work and at What Age

The floor is 14 for most non-agricultural employment. Hiring anyone younger requires permission from a superior court judge in the county where the minor lives, along with a completed parent/school authorization, a minor work permit, and proof of age on file. Judicial approval alone deters most employers from trying.

A handful of activities sit outside that process entirely:

Immediate family members working on the family’s own farm.
Actors and performers under 14 in film, video, audio, or theatrical productions.
Babysitting, lawn care, leaf raking, and newspaper delivery, which are also exempt from minimum wage and permit rules.
Children under 14 certified as soccer referees by a national youth soccer organization.
Youth volunteering for nonprofits, government, or religious organizations who receive no compensation beyond expenses or a nominal fee.

Washington also lets 12- and 13-year-olds hand-harvest berries, bulbs, cucumbers, and spinach during weeks when school is not in session.¹

What Minors Must Be Paid

Washington does not allow the federal $4.25 youth training wage. Minor pay is tied to the state minimum, which is $17.13 per hour as of January 1, 2026. Workers 16 and 17 get the full $17.13. Workers 14 and 15 may be paid 85 percent of that, which comes to $14.56 per hour.² Even the reduced rate for 14- and 15-year-olds sits well above the federal minimum, and no minor in Washington can lawfully be paid the federal sub-minimum.³

Hour Limits and Time of Day

How long a minor can work, and when those hours can fall, depends on age and whether school is in session. Compensated work is covered whether it happens on-site or remotely.

14- and 15-Year-Olds

During the school year, a maximum of three hours on any day before a school day and up to eight hours on Saturdays, Sundays, and other non-school days. The weekly cap is 16 hours across no more than six days. Work must end by 7:00 p.m. on nights before a school day, extending to 9:00 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and the evening before a school holiday.⁴

During school vacations, the limits rise to eight hours per day and 40 hours per week, still capped at six days. The earliest start time stays 7:00 a.m. The evening cutoff is 7:00 p.m. most of the year and extends to 9:00 p.m. between June 1 and Labor Day.⁵

16- and 17-Year-Olds

During the school year, up to four hours on a day before a school day, up to eight on other days, with a weekly maximum of 20 hours over six days. Work must fall between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. on nights before school days. On Fridays, Saturdays, and the evening before a school holiday, the cutoff extends to midnight without a variance.⁴

During school vacations, limits expand to eight hours per day and 48 hours per week, and the permitted window runs from 5:00 a.m. to midnight.⁵

One rule that catches employers off guard: if a 16- or 17-year-old is working past 8:00 p.m. in a service occupation, a responsible adult employee must be on the premises the entire time. Restaurants and retailers running a skeleton closing crew need to plan around this.⁴

Rest and Meal Breaks

Break rules for minors are more protective than the general adult standards, and the rules for workers under 16 are stricter still.

A 14- or 15-year-old must get a paid 10-minute rest break for every two hours worked, cannot go more than two consecutive hours without either that rest break or a 30-minute meal period, and must receive an uninterrupted 30-minute meal period after four hours of work, separate from and in addition to rest breaks.⁶

A 16- or 17-year-old is entitled to a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked, scheduled near the midpoint of the work period. They cannot be required to work more than three hours without a rest break, and shifts over five hours require an uninterrupted 30-minute meal period.⁶

Jobs Minors Cannot Do

Washington bans minors from a range of jobs based on age, alongside the federal hazardous-occupation orders.

Under 16, work is limited to non-hazardous tasks like retail, food service, and office work. No power-driven machinery beyond typical office equipment. No construction, manufacturing, processing operations, or warehouse or transportation work involving conveyors.⁷

Even at 16 and 17, several categories remain off-limits regardless of training:

Handling, using, or manufacturing explosives or blasting agents.
Most delivery driving on public roads, including time-sensitive pizza-style deliveries. All driving on public roadways is prohibited for anyone 16 or younger.
Power-driven woodworking machines, metal-forming and shearing machines, and powered bakery equipment such as commercial mixers.
Any work on or around a roof.
Logging and sawmill work.

L&I’s full list is broader and includes meat slicers, earth-moving equipment, and radioactive substances.⁷

Agricultural Work Follows Different Rules

Children working on a farm owned or operated by their parent, or anyone standing in a parent’s place, are exempt from both minimum age and hazardous occupation requirements under federal law.⁸

On someone else’s farm, federal thresholds step up by age. Children 12 and older can do non-hazardous farm work outside school hours with parental consent. At 14, any non-hazardous farm job is open. At 16, all federal restrictions lift. Children under 16 not working for a parent are barred from a detailed list of hazardous tasks, including operating tractors over 20 PTO horsepower, working with certain harvesting and processing machinery, handling toxic pesticides, and working at heights over 20 feet.⁹

In Washington, 12- and 13-year-olds can hand-harvest berries, bulbs, cucumbers, and spinach during non-school weeks.¹

Permits and Authorization Before a Minor Starts

Two separate approvals are needed: a business-level permit and individual-level consent from the minor’s parent and school.

Every employer hiring anyone under 18 must obtain a Minor Work Permit endorsement through the Washington Department of Revenue. It is free, tied to the business license, and must be posted in plain view of all employees at each workplace where minors work.¹⁰

Before the minor starts, the employer must obtain written parental or guardian authorization. During the school year, that is L&I’s Parent/School Authorization form (F700-002-000). During summer break, it is the Parent Authorization for Summer Work form (F700-168-000). These forms are not submitted to L&I; the employer keeps them on file at the minor’s workplace and produces them on inspection.¹¹ Authorizations must be renewed annually, and L&I requires returning teens’ Parent/School Authorization forms to be renewed before September 30 each year. A new employer needs a fresh authorization.¹²

Any minor who is required to attend school and is working during the school year also needs written authorization from the school. The school evaluates whether the schedule will affect academic performance and can approve fewer hours than the law otherwise allows. School authorization is not required for high school graduates or for intermittent weekend-only work.¹¹

Records and Postings

For each minor employee, the employer keeps proof of age (a birth certificate, driver’s license, baptismal record, insurance policy, or completed Form I-9), the parental authorization, and the school authorization when it applies. Those minor-specific records must be retained for at least one year.¹³ General wage and hour records for all employees, including minors, must be kept at least three years and made available to L&I on request.¹⁴

At every workplace where minors work, the Minor Work Permit endorsement must be posted with the required workplace poster under WAC 296-126-080, both in plain view.¹⁵

Penalties for Violations

Effective July 1, 2026, Washington replaced its flat $1,000-per-violation cap with a tiered civil penalty structure that scales with severity. L&I enforces through audits and complaints.

Permit, authorization, or recordkeeping failures: $100 to $1,000 per violation. First-time offenses in this category may be reduced or waived if the employer corrects the problem within the deadline L&I sets in the citation.
Work hour violations: $150 to $1,000 per violation.
Meal break or rest break violations: $300 to $1,000 per violation.
Prohibited duty, variance, or minimum wage violations: at least $1,000 per violation, rising to a $2,000 minimum for a second or later citation.
A violation causing serious physical harm to a minor: at least $15,000, which may be doubled for willful or repeated violations.
A violation resulting in a minor’s death: at least $71,000, which may also be doubled for willful or repeated violations.

For serious or repeated violations that continue after a citation, L&I must impose an additional penalty of up to $5,000 for each day the violation persists. Giving unauthorized advance notice of an L&I inspection carries its own penalty of up to $1,000.¹⁶

1
WA.gov. Hiring Youth Under Age 14
2
WA.gov. 2026 Minimum Wage Announcement
3
Washington State Legislature. WAC 296-126-020
4
Washington State Legislature. WAC 296-125-027 Hours of Work for Minors
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Selected State Child Labor Standards Affecting Minors Under 18 in Non-farm Employment
6
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Wages, Rest Breaks & Meal Periods
7
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Prohibited Duties
8
eCFR. 29 CFR 780.307 – Exemption for Employer’s Immediate Family
9
eCFR. Part 570 Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation
10
Washington Department of Revenue. Minor Work Permit
11
Washington State Legislature. WAC 296-131-105
12
L&I. How to Hire Minors
13
Washington State Legislature. WAC 296-131-130 – Recordkeeping
14
WA.gov. Recordkeeping and Access to Payroll Records – ES.D.1
15
Cornell Law School. Wash. Admin. Code 296-125-0224 – Do I Need to Post My Minor Work Permit Endorsements?
16
Washington State Legislature. RCW 49.12.390 Child Labor Laws – Violations – Civil Penalties – Restraining Orders – Annual Report