HOWARD — For various reasons — whether to save money for college, to pay for gas and car insurance, or help with the family budget — more and more teenagers are joining the work force before they graduate from high school. In order to do so, there are certain steps they, and their employers, have to take to comply with Ohio’s minor labor laws.
One of the first steps after obtaining the promise of employment is for the teen to get a work permit. Connie Boeshart, attendance secretary at East Knox High School, is that district’s designated work permit issuer. She outlined the procedure required.
“The students know if they’re from [age] 14 to 18, they need work permits,” she said. “They have to be at least 14 to get a work permit. When they come into the office, we have a form that we have printed off of the state site [the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Labor & Worker Safety].”
The first part of the form is a parent or guardian consent form; next is the application for a minor work permit. The application also includes a physical examination section, in case the employer requires a physician’s certificate. Boeshart said it’s important to remember that the parent or guardian has to fill in and sign the forms.
“A lot of kids,” she said, “think they can fill it out, but it has to be the parents if they are not 18.”
The student must supply documentation verifying his or her age. Boeshart accepts driver’s licenses, driver’s permit or birth certificate — anything that lists the student’s age. That proof of age is attached to the work permit paperwork.
Next, the employer fills out the bottom portion of the application, and Boeshart makes sure the employer tax ID number is included.
“That number is the big thing,” she said. “ If we don’t have that, we can’t load it on the state [Web] site. When I load the information, the site will tell me if the job is unsuitable for their age, it will say ‘cannot work at this job.’ If the scheduled work hours don’t match the law, the site will tell me that, too. Then it will then create a school age work certificate, and that’s what the employer has the students sign when they actually come in to work. I keep a copy at school and send a copy to the employer.”
The employer gets a copy of the work permit. She said it is returned to the school when the student quits or is fired from the job. She keeps everything on file in the students’ records, so the school knows if they shouldn’t be leaving school to go to a job they no longer have. A new certificate must be obtained for each new job, Boeshart said.
About 30 students at East Knox have work permits, most in the fast food industry.
“I think it’s good for teens to work if it doesn’t interfere with their studies,” Boeshart said. “Their studies are the main thing, though. If we see they have poor attendance, like because they can’t get up because they worked the night before, we have diversionary hearings. The probation officer will tell them, ‘you have to come to school on time or we can take your job away from you.’ It all goes into the court system if it becomes a problem at school. When they reach a certain point, it goes before Judge Ronk.”
According to the Ohio Department of Commerce, when school is in session, minors aged 14 and 15 cannot be employed before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m.; work more than three hours on any school day; work more than 18 hours in any school week; or work during school hours, unless employment is incidental to a bona fide vocational training program.
When school is in session, minors 16 and 17 cannot be employed before 7 a.m., or 6 a.m. if not employed after 8 p.m. the previous night; or after 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. There is no limitation in hours per day or week.
When school is not in session, minors 14 and 15 cannot be employed before 7 a.m. or after 9 p.m.; work more than eight hours per day or work more than 40 hours per week.
When school is in not in session, minors 16 and 17 have no limitations as to the starting and ending hours and no limitation in hours per day or week.
Certain occupations are considered hazardous to minors and minors are prohibited from working in those occupations such as, meat-packing and related jobs, the operation of heavy machinery and roofing occupations. There are also some jobs which are not allowed for 14- and 15-year-olds, but legal for 16- and 17-year-olds. A more complete summary of prohibited occupations for minors can be found on the Ohio Department of Commerce, Wage and Hour Bureau Web site.
