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Employment of Children Under Eighteen Years of Age

If you are considering hiring an individual under the age of 18, please take the following into account in your decision process.

Age Related Restrictions

The minimum age for employment is 14 years old, and children under age 14 may not be employed in any capacity.

The following restrictions apply to the employment of children under eighteen years old:

Age 14-15:

The employee may not

• work during regular school hours;
• work more than eighteen hours per week nor more than three hours per day when high school is in session;
• work more than forty hours per week nor more than eight hours per day when high school is not in session;
• work between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in any one day, except in the summer between June 1 and Labor Day, when the evening hour will be 9:00 p.m.; and
• perform hazardous duties (see below for details).

Age 16-17

The employee may not

• work during regular school hours;
• work more than forty hours per week nor more than eight hours per day when high school is not in session;
• perform hazardous duties (see below for details).

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UA Classifications

"High School Student" and "High School Student-Food Service" -Employment of a "High School Student" is permitted but should not interfere with the student's concurrent high school education. An individual employed as a "High School Student" may continue as a "High School Student" and work during the summer months between high school graduation and the fall semester if they are pre-registered to attend the UA for that fall semester. On the first day of fall semester regular classes the "High School Student" classification is no longer applicable and the employment status should be changed to either 1) a Student Group A, B or C position or 2) the employment must be terminated.

"Student A, B or C" or other Classified Staff Title -- Employment of a UA student or anyone under the age of eighteen (18) requires the University to adhere to the guidelines for youth employment whether the individual is hired in a Student Group A, B or C or in a Classified Staff title.

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Required Documents

Proof of age is required, and may be established by documents used for I-9 compliance. Proof of enrollment and attendance at a recognized high school or high school program is required for high school students. If the employment is for the contiguous period immediately after the employee's high school graduation, proof of high school graduation is required.

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Compensatory Time

It is University policy to pay time and one-half cash overtime for hours in excess of 40 hours worked per work week to High School Students, High School Students-Food Service, and employees in Student Group A, B and C. These employees may not accrue compensatory time.

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Hazardous Work Restrictions

Under Age 18

Employees under age 18 cannot perform non-agricultural hazardous work. Non-agricultural hazardous work includes but is not limited to

• driving a motor vehicle or being an outside helper in one except under limited circumstances;
• being exposed to blood borne pathogens;
• manufacturing/storing/working around explosives and explosive components (as defined by the ATF and including ammunition, black powder, blasting caps, fireworks, high explosives, primers and smokeless powder);
• coal mining;
• logging/saw milling;
• using power-driven circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears;
• using power-driven wood-working, hoisting, wood-working, metal-forming, punching, shearing, paper product, slicing, or baking machines;
• being exposed to radioactive substances/ionizing radiations;
• mining;
• meat packaging or processing;
• manufacturing brick, tile or related products;
• wrecking, demolition and ship breaking operations;
• roofing operations;
• excavation operations;
• working in operations or locations where the following hazardous materials are present: chemicals that are suspect or known carcinogens, physical or chemical hazard in concentrations above any OSHA action level, compressed highly toxic gases;
• working with open unprotected electrical circuits, or systems that require the use of lockout-tagout;
• working in a location that requires personal fall arrest protection per OSHA standards;
• entry to any confined space as defined by OSHA standards;
• exposure to high noise levels above the OSHA action level (85 dbA, TWA);
• working in a location where respiratory protection is required;
• working in laboratories with a BSL rating greater than 2, or in labs where Select Agents are housed or handled; and
• Any duties with exposure to a serious health or safety hazard.

If there is any potential that the assigned duties could be deemed hazardous, please contact Risk Management & Safety for clarification. Any exception to the listed restrictions must be approved in advance by Risk Management & Safety, and a copy of that approval sent to Human Resources.

Hazardous Work Restrictions, continued

Under Age 16

In addition to the above, employees under age 16 cannot perform agricultural hazardous work. Agricultural hazardous work includes but is not limited to

• driving a bus, truck, or automobile when transporting passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper;
• working from a ladder or scaffold (painting, repairing, or building structures, pruning trees, picking fruit, etc.) at a height of over 8 feet;
• operating a tractor of over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting or disconnecting an implement or any of its parts to or from such a tractor;
• operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines: corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, mobile pea viner, feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, or the unloading mechanism of a non-gravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer, power post-hole digger, power post driver, or non-walking type rotary tiller;
• operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines: trencher or earthmoving equipment, fork lift, potato combine, or power-driven circular, band, or chain saw;
• working on a farm in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; or sow with suckling pigs, or cow with newborn calf (with umbilical cord present);
• felling, bucking, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with butt diameter of more than 6 inches;
• working inside a fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen deficient or toxic atmosphere; an upright silo within 2 weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position; a manure pit; or a horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes;
• handling or applying (including cleaning or decontaminating equipment, disposal or return of empty containers, or serving as a flagman for aircraft applying) agricultural chemicals classified under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 135 et seq.) as Category I of toxicity, identified by the word "poison" and the "skull and crossbones" on the label; or Category II of toxicity, identified by the word "warning" on the label;
• handling or using a blasting agent, including but not limited to, dynamite, black powder, sensitized ammonium nitrate, blasting caps, and primer cord; or
• transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.

If there is any potential that the assigned duties could be deemed hazardous, please contact Risk Management & Safety for clarification. Any exception to the listed restrictions must be approved in advance by Risk Management & Safety, and a copy sent to Human Resources.

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Driving Restrictions

Under the University's Fleet Safety Policy, employees under age 18 are not permitted to drive on University business. For information on driving qualifications for employees 18 and over, please refer to http://risk.arizona.edu/fleetsafety/index.shtml.