Which U.S. law generally bars employers from hiring children under 14 in covered nonfarm jobs?

The Fair Labor Standards Act generally bars employers from hiring children under 14 in covered nonfarm jobs.

The act’s child-labor provisions set 14 as the usual minimum age for nonagricultural employment covered by federal law. Fourteen- and 15-year-olds may work only limited hours and only in jobs that the Department of Labor considers nonhazardous. Workers aged 16 and 17 can generally work unlimited hours in nonhazardous nonfarm jobs.

The rules include exceptions for activities such as newspaper delivery, acting, certain family businesses, and some agricultural work. Hazardous-occupation orders impose stricter age limits for dangerous tasks, machinery, mining, and similar work.

This subject is often confused with compulsory-schooling laws, which are mainly state matters. The Fair Labor Standards Act sets federal employment standards; it does not replace every state child-labor rule. Employers must follow the applicable federal and state requirements.