By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — As children head back to school this fall, farmers will have to do some homework of their own and brush up on rules that apply to youth working on farms during the school year.

“Once school is in session, Ohio labor laws place restrictions on the times of day and number of hours that youth under the age of 18 can work on a farm,” said Peggy Kirk Hall, associate professor and director of The Ohio State University’s Agricultural & Resource Law Program.

“The laws don’t apply to parents, grandparents, or legal guardians, however. For other farm employers, be aware that the laws vary according to the age of the minor and some require written parental consent.”

Laws for youth apply to those under the age of 18. For ages 16-17, work on the farm cannot be performed before 7 a.m. on school days, with the exception that they can work starting at 6 a.m. providing they were not working past 8 p.m. the night before.

Those in this age group cannot work after 11 p.m. on a school night, meaning the teen has school the next day. In addition, there are no daily or weekly limits on the number of hours these youth can work.

Teens 14-15 cannot work during school hours while school is in session. They cannot work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., but can work until 9 p.m. from June 1-Sept. 1 or during any school holiday or break lasting more than five weekdays.

Those in this age group cannot work more than three hours during a school day or more than eight yours during a non-school day. In total, they cannot work more than 18 hours in a week while school is in session, unless the job is part of a work education program such as a vocational training or work study.

For those ages 12-13, the same time restrictions and daily and weekly hour limits apply as for ages 14-15, but there is no exception to the 18-hour weekly limit for vocational training or work study programs. The employer must obtain written parental consent for the youth to be working, unless the parent or legal guardian also works on the same farm.

There are even more restrictions for those under the age of 12. Those in this age group can only work on a farm where employees are exempt from the federal minimum wage, which includes farms of an immediate family member or a “small farm” that used fewer than 500 “man-days” of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter the preceding year.

(A man-day is a day during which an employee performs agricultural work for at least one hour.)

There is one exception to the rule above. Local youth ages 10-11 may hand-harvest short-season crops outside school hours for no more than eight weeks between June 1-Oct. 15, if their employers have obtained special waivers from the U.S. secretary of labor.

The same daily time restrictions and daily and weekly hour limits for ages 14-15 apply to youth under 12 years of age, but there is no exception to the 18-hour weekly limit for vocational training or work study programs. Employers of this age group must obtain written parental consent for the youth to be working.

“Youth labor laws have existed at both the state and federal levels for more than a century now,” Hall said. “The laws themselves have changed over the years, but their intent largely remains the same, and that is to protect youth from potential hazards and risks that may arise while working, ensure that they attend school, and prevent exploitation of child labor.

“Early on, agriculture was largely exempt from the restrictions imposed by labor laws for minors, in recognition that youth are important to the workings of a family farm. While that remains true to an extent, there are a number of laws that do apply to employing youth on the farm.

“It’s important for the farm community to know these laws and understand the parameters of using minors to assist with farm work,” she emphasized.

According to Hall, the other labor laws that typically apply to youth doing ag work on a farm continue to apply throughout the school year. For example, employers must maintain records for these employees, and provide a written agreement of compensation and a statement of earnings on payday.

Farm employers must also provide a 30-minute rest period if a youth works more than five consecutive hours.

“An employer cannot assign any youth under the age of 16 with a hazardous job or task, unless the youth is 14 or 15 and has a certificate of completion for tractor or machine operation,” Hall added.

For more information about these and other laws that apply to Ohio youth under 18 on a farm, download the OSU bulletin from https://farmoffice.osu.edu/sites/aglaw/files/site-library/YouthLabor.pdf