IA employers: Observe strict hour restrictions for young teens or face steep penalties

Businesses employing young teens should ensure compliance with strict work-hour limits or face significant fines from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its implementing regulations. Of course, most Iowans would agree children shouldn’t be operating dangerous equipment or cleaning meat grinders. The focus of the DOL these days, however, seems to be on the hours teens work.

Many employers face crippling civil money penalties

Historically, federal enforcement in child labor has focused on the work activities being performed and preventing children from engaging in hazardous duties. Comparatively, the time frame and total number of hours worked tended to serve more as an aggravating or mitigating factor in those cases.

In recent months, however, the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has been citing stand-alone hours violations, putting many employers at risk of what may feel more like an inadvertent technical violation rather than abusive child labor.

Compounding the trouble for unwitting employers, a November 2023 field assistance bulletin from the wage and hour administrator directed DOL investigators to begin assessing child labor civil money penalties on a per-violation basis. Previously, the agency interpreted the regulations as authorizing these penalties (currently up to $15,138) in civil penalties per child.