New Jersey Child Labor Law Abstract Poster Mandatory

MW-129 (2/23)	
Child Labor Law Abstract	
Post this notice in a conspicuous place.  
This notice is for ready reference only. For full text, consult N.J.S.A. 34:2-21.1 et seq. and N.J.A.C. 12:58 et seq.	
Work Prohibited to Minors	
Required Records
Employers must keep certain records for all employees under 
age 18. Required records are:  
• Name • address • date of birth • start and ending hours of\
 daily 
work and meal periods • number of hours worked each day   
• wages paid to each minor.
Required records for  Newspaper Carriers  are:  
• Name • address • date of birth • date they began and stopp\
ed 
delivering newspapers • number of newspapers sold • general 
description of the route area served.
These records are not required to be kept for:  
• those engaged in domestic service in private homes  
• those engaged in agricultural pursuits  
• minors 16–18 years old employed by a summer resident 
camp, conference or retreat operated by a nonprofit or 
religious corporation or association during June, July, August or 
September.
Minimum Wage Requirements
The minimum wage rate does not apply to minors under 18 
years of age except as provided in N.J.A.C. 12:56-11, 12:56-13, 
12:56-14 and N.J.A.C. 12:57, Wage Orders for Minors.
NOTE: Employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards 
Act (FSLA) would be required to pay the federal 
minimum wage to minors not covered by a wage order.	General Information
Breaks
Minors under 18 years old must get a 30-minute meal break 
after 6 consecutive hours of work.
Working during school hours
Minors under 16 may not work during the hours they are 
required to attend school.
Employment certificate (also called  working papers)  
& age certificate
Minors who are gainfully employed must have an employment 
certificate. Some employers may also ask for an age certificate 
from minors between the ages of 18 and 21. This tells 
employers a minor is old enough to do certain types of work. 
To get working papers or an age certificate, minors must apply 
in person to the issuing officer of the school district where they 
live. 
Read working papers carefully. They contain information that 
is important to you. Papers are valid only for the period of time 
and conditions stated thereon.
Enforced by: NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Division of Wage and Hour Compliance, PO Box 389, Trenton NJ 08625-0389 • 609-292-2305
This and other required employer posters are available free online at  nj.gov/labor, or from the
Office of Constituent Relations, PO Box 110, Trenton, NJ 08625-0110	
 	
If you need this document in Braille or large print, call 609-292-2305. \
TTY users can contact this department through the New Jersey Relay: 7-1-1	
New Jersey	
Kind of Employment
Theatrical: Professional employ -
ment in a theatrical production, 
including stage, motion pictures, 
and television performances and 
rehearsals.
Agriculture: No restrictions on 
work performed outside school 
hours in connection with minor’s 
own home and directly for the mi -
nor’s parent or legal guardian.
Newspaper Carriers : Minors who 
deliver, solicit, sell and collect for 
newspapers outside of school 
hours on residential routes.
Street Trades: Minors who sell, 
offer for sale, solicit for, collect for, 
display, or distribute any articles, 
goods, merchandise, commercial 
service, posters, circulars, news -
papers or magazines or in blacking 
shoes on any street or other public 
place or from house to house. Minimum Age
None, but minors under 16 
must be accompanied at all 
times by an adult who is a par -
ent, guardian, or representative 
of employer.
12 years old
Outside school hours
16 years old
During school hours
11 years old
14 years old
Outside school hours
16 years old	
9	
During school hours Hours of Work Not to Exceed	
1, 3	
Under 16: No more than 2 shows 
or productions	4 daily or 8 weekly, 
5 hours daily, 24 hours weekly, 6 
days a week. (Includes rehearsal 
time. Combined hours of school 
and work not to exceed 8 hours 
daily.)	
5	
16 & 17 years old	5, 6, 8	  
   8 hours daily  
 40 hours weekly  
   6 days a week
 10 hours daily
   6 days a week
 10 hours daily 
   6 days a week
Combined hours of school and 
work not to exceed 8 hours daily, 
40 hours weekly, 7 days
When school is in session: 
    3 hours per day
  18 hours per week. 
During school vacation:   
    8 hours per day 
  40 hours per week  
    6 days per week.
   8 hours per day
 40 hours per week
   6 days per week Prohibited Hours
Under 16 
   Before 7 a.m.
   After 11:30 p.m.	
6	
16–17 years old
   Before 6 a.m.
   After 11:30 p.m.	
6	
None
11–13 years old
   Before 6 a.m.
   After 7 p.m.
14–17 years old
   Before 5:30 a.m.
   After 8 p.m.
14–15 years old
   Before 7 a.m.
   After 7 p.m.
16–17 years old
    Before 6 a.m.  
    After 11 p.m. Certificate or Permit Required	
2	
Under 16
Special Theatrical Permit
16–17 years old
Employment Certificate
12–15 years old only 
Special Agricultural  Permit
11–17 years old
NJ publishers may issue Special 
Newspaper Carrier Permit or 
local issuing officer may issue: 
Special Permit (11–15 years old) 
or Employment Certificate (16–17 
years old).
Special Street Trades Permit or 
Employment Certificate
Employment Certificate	
Exemptions to some of these prohibitions apply:  > to work done by students under the supervision and instruction 
of officers or teachers 
> to work done by minors who are at least 17 years old, doing 
work related to their major field of study, under the conditions of 
the special vocational school graduate permit
> to work done by minors in junior achievement programs. 
The kind of work that students in these programs may do is 
limited by the Department of Education. Employers should check 
these prohibitions with the coordinator of each program.
No minor under 18 years of age may be employed, suffered, 
or permitted to work in, about, or in connection with the 
following:
Making or packing paints, colors, white lead, or red lead
Handling dangerous or poisonous acids or dyes; injurious 
quantities of toxic or noxious dust, gases, vapors or fumes
Work involving exposure to benzol or any benzol compound that 
is volatile or can penetrate the skin
Making, transporting or using explosives or highly inflammable 
substances.
The wording “the manufacture, transportation or use of explosives 
or highly inflammable substances” as used in the prohibited 
occupations section of the Child Labor Act does not include filling 
the gasoline tanks of gasoline motor-driven vehicles by using 
a hose connected to automatic or manual-powered pumping 
equipment commonly used for that purpose in gasoline service 
stations.
This interpretation does not in any way affect any prohibition 
contained in the Child Labor Law concerning power-driven or 
hazardous machinery or hazardous occupations.
PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES
• Carcinogenic substances  • Corrosive material
• Pesticides  • Toxic or hazardous substances
• Radioactive substances and ionizing radiation
PROHIBITED TYPES OF WORK
Demolishing buildings, ships, or heavy machinery
Fabricating or assembling ships
Fueling aircraft, either commercial or private
Oiling, wiping, or cleaning machinery in motion or assisting therein
Operating or repairing elevators or other hoisting apparatus
Posing nude or without generally accepted attire
Servicing single-piece or multi-piece rimwheels
Serving beverages out of any bar service area, including outside 
bars at pools or other recreational facilities
Transporting payrolls other than within the employer's premises
Construction work (exemptions include minors doing volunteer 
work in affordable housing).
"Construction work" means: 	
 	
- erecting, alterating, repairing, renovating, demolishing or 
removing any building or structure 	
 	
- excavating, filling and grading sites 	 	
- excavating, repairing or paving roads and highways, and 	 	
- any function performed within 30 feet of the above operations. 
"Construction work" does not include the repair or painting of 
fences, buildings and structures up to 12 feet tall.
Most occupations in slaughtering, meat packing, processing, 
or rendering, including operating slicing machines used in 
delicatessens and restaurants for cutting or slicing any food 
product.
PROHIBITED MACHINES/EQUIPMENT
No minor under 16 years of age may be employed, permitted, 
or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with power-driven 
machinery. 
Power-driven machinery includes, but is not limited to:  Calendar rolls or mixing rolls in rubber manufacturing
Centrifugal extractors or mangles in laundries or dry cleaning 
establishments
Circular saws, band saws, guillotine shears  Compactors
Conveyors and related equipment
Corn pickers, power hay balers, power field choppers, including 
work in or on same
Corrugating, crimping or embossing machines
Cutting machines that have a guillotine action
Dough brakes or mixing machines in bakeries or cracker 
machinery
Grinding, abrasive, polishing or buffing machines; however, 
apprentices operating under conditions of a bona fide 
apprenticeship may grind their own tools.
Paper lace machines
Power lawn mowers 
Power woodworking and metal working tools 
Power-driven woodworking machinery (operating or helping to 
operate); however, apprentices in a bona fide apprenticeship 
may operate such machines under competent instruction and 
supervision
Punch presses or stamping machines if the clearance between 
the ram and the die or the stripper exceeds 1/4 inch
Steam boilers with more than 15 pounds of pressure.
Power-driven machinery does not include: Agricultural machines when used on farms such as standard type 
poultry feeders, egg washers, egg coolers, and milking machines
Cash register conveyor belt in a supermarket or retail 
establishment for minors at least 15 years old working as 
cashiers or baggers
Standard domestic type machines or appliances when used in 
domestic or business establishments
Standard office type machines
Standard type passenger elevator (attended or unattended).
PROHIBITED PLACES
Any establishment where alcoholic liquors are distilled, rectified, 
compounded, brewed, manufactured, bottled, or sold for 
consumption on the premises (however, minors at least 16 years 
old may work as pinsetters, lane attendants, or bus	
persons	 in 
public bowling alleys, and in restaurants or in the executive offices, 
maintenance departments, or pool or beach areas of a hotel, motel 
or guest house — but may not prepare, sell or serve alcoholic 
beverages, or prepare photographs, or work in any dancing or 
theatrical exhibition or performance which is not part of a theatrical 
production where alcoholic beverages are sold on the premises, 
while so employed. Minors at least 14 years of age may be 
employed as golf caddies and pool attendants).
Any place or condition operated or maintained for immoral 
purposes or a disorderly house
Junk or scrap metal yards, which means any place where old iron, 
metal, paper, cordage, and other refuse is collected and deposited 
or both and sold or may be treated so as to be reused in some form 
or discarded or where automobiles or machines are demolished for 
the purpose of salvaging metal or parts
Mines or quarries
Ore reduction works, smelters, hot rolling mills, furnaces, foundries, 
forging shops, or any other place where metals are heated, melted 
or treated
Pool and billiard rooms
Video stores where X-rated movies are rented or sold.
PROHIBITIONS for ACTORS & PERFORMERS
Appearing as a rope or wire walker or rider, gymnast, wrestler, 
boxer, contortionist, acrobat, rider of a horse or other animal unless 
the minor is trained to safely ride such horse or animal or rider of 
any vehicle other than that generally used by a minor of the same 
age
Appearing in any illegal, indecent, or immoral exhibition, practice, 
or theatrical production
Any practice, exhibition or theatrical production dangerous to the 
life, limb, health or morals of a minor	
Appearance or exhibition of any physically deformed or mentally 
deficient minor.
OTHER PROHIBITED 
Indecent or immoral exposure.	
NOTES
1 A minor who is at least 17 years old and a graduate of a vocational school approved by the 
Commissioner of Education may engage in those pursuits in which the minor majored in said 
vocational school during those hours permitted for persons 18 years of age and over, if  an 
employment certificate (or a certified copy) accompanies the minor’s diploma.
2 When schools in the minor’s district are not in session, no certificate or permit is required for 
minors at least 14 years old employed at agricultural fairs, horse, dog, or farm shows that last no 
more than 10 days. 
No certificate is required for minors 15 and older during school vacation for first 14 days of 
employment in food service, restaurant, retail operations, or seasonal amusement occupations.
3 Does not apply to minors 16 or 17 years of age employed during June, July, August, or 
September by a summer resident camp, conference or retreat operated by a nonprofit or 
religious corporation or association, unless the employment is primarily general maintenance 
work or food service activities.
4 Where the professional employment is reasonably separable into discrete shows or 
productions. 
5  In Theatrical	 employment, the combined time spent on a set or on call and performance time 
shall not exceed 8 hours in any one day.	
6  In certain cases of	 Theatrical  	employment, the commissioner has the authority to change the 
hours of the day when a minor may work, but not the total number of hours.	
7 In 	General Employment , 	14- and 15 -year-old minors may work until 9 p.m., with written 	 	
permission of parent or guardian, from the last day of the minor’s school year until Labor Day.
8 In 	Theatrical	 employment,	 during school vacation; 10 hrs. per day, 50 hrs. per week, 6 days per week.	
9 In 	Street Trades	, during school vacation; 10 hrs. per day, 50 hrs. per week, 6 days per week.	
10 Summer 	Vacation: period beginning on last day of a minor's school year and ending on Labor Day.	
Punishment for Violations of Child Labor Law
Whoever employs or permits or suffers any minor to be employed or to work in 
violation of this act, or of any order or ruling issued under the provis\
ions of this act, 
or obstructs the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, its officers or 
agents, or any other person authorized to inspect places of employment u\
nder this 
act, and whoever, having under his control or custody 	
 	
any minor, permits or suffers him to be employed or to work in violation of this act, 
shall be guilty of an offense. 
If a defendant acts knowingly, an offense under this section will be a crime of the 
fourth degree. Otherwise it will be a disorderly persons offense and the defendant 
will, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of at least $100 (up to $2,000) for an 
initial violation, and at least $200 (up to $4,000) for each subsequent violation. 
Each day during which any violation of this act continues will constitut\
e a separate 
and distinct offense, and the employment of any minor in violation of the act will, 
with respect to each minor so employed, constitute a separate and distinct offense.
As an alternative to or in addition to any other sanctions provided by l\
aw for 
violations of P.L. 1940, c.153 (C.34:2-21.1 et seq.), when the Commissioner of 
Labor and Workforce Development finds that an individual has violated that act, the 
commissioner is authorized to assess and collect administrative penaltie\
s of up to 
$500 for a first violation, up to $1,000 for a second violation, and up to $2,500 for 
each subsequent violation, specified in a schedule of penalties to be promulgated 
as a rule or regulation by the commissioner in accordance with the “A\
dministrative 
Procedure Act,” P.L. 1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.). When determining the 
amount of the penalty imposed because of a violation, the commissioner w\
ill 
consider factors including the history of an employer's previous violati\
ons, the 
seriousness of the violation, the good faith of the employer, and the size of the 
employer’s business. 
No administrative penalty will be leveled pursuant to this section unles\
s the 
Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development provides the alleged violator 
with notification of the violation and of the amount of the penalty by certified mail 
and an opportunity to request a hearing before the commissioner or his d\
esignee 
within 15 days of receiving the notice.  If a hearing is requested, the commissioner will issue a final order upon such hearing 
and a finding that a violation has occurred. If no hearing is requested, the notice will 
become a final order upon expiration of the 15-day period. Payment of the penalty is 
due when a final order is issued or when the notice becomes a final order. Any penalty 
imposed pursuant to this section may be recovered with costs in a summar\
y preceding 
commenced by the commissioner pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law o\
f 1999," 
P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). 	
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development	
During school vacation:   
  10 hours per day 
  50 hours per week  
    6 days per week.
Same as for General Employment except that minors at least 16 years old \
may be employed after midnight during regular school 
vacation season, if work begins before 11 p.m. on the previous day, or on work date that do not begin on a school day, with special 
written permission from a parent or guardian. May not be employed after \
3 a.m. or before 6 a.m. on a day before a school day.
Same as for General Employment except that minors at least 16 years old \
may be employed as pinsetters, lane attendants, or bus -
persons until 11:30 p.m. — but during the school term the minor must have a special \
permit.
14 years old
Outside of school hours
16 years old
During school hours
14 years old
Outside of school hours
16 years old
During school hours
16 years old No restrictions
Except minors under 16 are limited 
to 3 hours per day, 18 hours per 
week when school is in session
No restrictions
   8 hours per day
 40 hours per week
   6 days per week None
None
When school is in session: 
After 10 p.m. 
During school vacation season:
Before 6 a.m. and After 10 p.m. Employment Certificate
Employment Certificate
Employment Certificate	
Restaurant and Seasonal
Public Bowling Alleys
Domestic Services  in Private 
Homes
No restriction on work performed 
outside school hours in connec -
tion with minor's own home and 
directly for the minor's parent or 
legal guardian.
Messengers  for Communications 
Companies Under Supervision and 
Control of the F.C.C.
Factory	
During summer vacation:   
  10 hours per day 
  50 hours per week  
    6 days per week. Exceptions: 
  1. School vacation season.
  2. Days not preceding a school day,   with special written permission of parent 
or guardian.)	
General Employment: Includes 
mercantile establishments, golf 
caddying, private bowling alleys, 
offices, gas stations, garages, 
and other places or means of 
gainful occupations unless other -
wise specified. 14 years old
16 years old When school is in session: 
    3 hours per day
  18 hours per week. 
When school is not in session:   
   8 hours per day 
  40 hours per week  
    6 days per week.
   8 hours per day
 40 hours per week
   6 days per week
During summer vacation:	
10  
  10 hours per day 
  50 hours per week  
    6 days per week. 14–15 years old
 
   Before 7 a.m.
   After 7 p.m.	
7	
16–17 years old
   Before 6 a.m.
   After 11 p.m.
    Employment Certificate
Employment Certificate