Kentucky Labor Law

AGE 14 & 15 YEARS

The following will apply to all minors 14 & 15 years of age including those participating in a home school program.
1. May work 3 hours per day on a school day, 8 hours a day on a nonschool day and up to 18 hours total in a week when school is in session.
2. May work 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week when school is not in session for the entire school week.
3. May work between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
4. Between June 1 and Labor Day the minor may work as late as 9:00 p.m.
5. Minors under 16 years of age may not be employed during regular school hours.
6. See a list of prohibited duties considered hazardous by clicking on 803 KAR 1:100 in addition to the list provided below.

Prohibited jobs
1. Manufacturing or storing explosives
2. Driving a motor vehicle and being an outside helper on a motor vehicle
3. Coal mining
4. Logging and sawmilling
5. Power-driven wood-working machines
6. Exposure to radioactive substances and to ionizing radiations
7. Power-driven hoisting equipment
8. Power-driven metal-forming, punching, and shearing machines
9. Mining, other than coal mining
10. Slaughtering, meat packing, or processing (including power-driven meat slicing machines)
11. Power-driven bakery machines
12. Power-driven paper-products machines
13. Manufacturing brick, tile, and related products
14. Power-driven circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears
15. Wrecking, demolition, and ship-breaking operations
16. Roofing operations
17. Excavation operations
18. In, about or in connection with any establishments where alcoholic liquors are distilled, rectified, compounded, brewed, manufactured, bottled, sold for consumption or dispensed unless permitted by the rules and regulations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (except they may be employed in places where the sale of alcoholic beverages by the package is merely incidental to the main business actually conducted).
19. Pool or billard room

AGE 16 & 17 YEARS

The following will apply to all minors 16 & 17 year olds enrolled in school or participating in a home school program.
1. May work 6 hours a day on a school day; 8 hours a day on a nonschool day up to 30 hours total in a school week.
2. May work between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. preceding a school day and between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. preceding a nonschool day during a school week.
3. See a list of prohibited duties considered hazardous by clicking on 803 KAR 1:100 in addition to the list provided below.

Prohibited jobs
1. Manufacturing or storing explosives
2. Driving a motor vehicle and being an outside helper on a motor vehicle
3. Coal mining
4. Logging and sawmilling
5. Power-driven wood-working machines*
6. Exposure to radioactive substances and to ionizing radiations
7. Power-driven hoisting equipment
8. Power-driven metal-forming, punching, and shearing machines*
9. Mining, other than coal mining
10. Slaughtering, meat packing, or processing (including power-driven meat slicing machines)
11. Power-driven bakery machines
12. Power-driven paper-products machines*
13. Manufacturing brick, tile, and related products
14. Power-driven circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears*
15. Wrecking, demolition, and ship-breaking operations
16. Roofing operations*
17. Excavation operations*
18. In, about or in connection with any establishments where alcoholic liquors are distilled, rectified, compounded, brewed, manufactured, bottled, sold for consumption or dispensed unless permitted by the rules and regulations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (except they may be employed in places where the sale of alcoholic beverages by the package is merely incidental to the main business actually conducted).
19. Pool or billard room
*Limited exemptions are provided for apprentices and student-learners under specified standards.

AGE 13 AND UNDER

Minors under fourteen years of age may not be employed.