KS · State teen labor law
Kansas teen labor law — work hours, permits, and restricted jobs
Kansas mirrors federal FLSA child-labor caps for 14-15-year-olds and imposes no state restrictions on 16-17-year-olds. No state-issued work permit is required.
Quick facts
School year vs summer hour caps
Kansas applies similar caps year-round, with small calendar adjustments shown below. Each age band below shows both calendars side-by-side — a distinction federal summaries and most state-comparison tables skip.
Ages 14–15
School year
When school is in session
- Hrs/day (school day)
- 3 hr
- Hrs/day (Sat / Sun / holiday)
- 8 hr
- Max hours per week
- 18 hr
- Time window
- 07:00 – 19:00
Note: Mirrors federal FLSA. No work during school hours.
Summer / school breaks
When school is out
- Max hours per day
- 8 hr
- Max hours per week
- 40 hr
- Time window
- 07:00 – 21:00
Note: Summer hours apply June 1 through Labor Day; evening cutoff extends to 9:00 PM.
Ages 16–17
School year
When school is in session
- Max hours per day
- No state limit
- Max hours per week
- No state limit
- Time window
- No state limit
Note: Kansas imposes no state hour or time-of-day restriction on 16- and 17-year-olds; federal FLSA also has no hour cap for this age group in non-hazardous work.
Summer / school breaks
When school is out
- Max hours per day
- No state limit
- Max hours per week
- No state limit
- Time window
- No state limit
Work permit
Kansas does not require a state-issued work permit for minors.
Kansas does not require a state-issued work permit. Employers must keep proof of age on file (driver's license, certified birth certificate, or state ID). The Kansas Department of Labor enforces child-labor rules through complaint and inspection.
Jobs by age
Age-specific guides to common allowed jobs in Kansas, with the federal hour caps and the state’s stricter rules built in.
Restricted occupations
All federal hazardous orders HO-1 through HO-17
Federal: 29 CFR Part 570
Operating power-driven meat-processing machines
Federal: HO-10
Roofing operations and work on or about a roof
Federal: HO-16
Door-to-door sales for minors under 16 without adult supervision
State: K.S.A. §38-602
Sale or service of alcohol for minors under 21
State: K.S.A. §41-727
See the full federal hazardous orders (HO-1 to HO-17) for plain-English summaries, or the Kansas hazardous-orders deep-dive for the federal floor plus Kansas-specific additions.
Breaks & meal periods
Kansas has no verified state law requiring a meal or rest break for minors, so the federal floor applies: the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require employers to give a meal or rest break at any age. An employer can legally schedule a teen for a full shift without one. If a short break of 5–20 minutes is given it must be paid; a bona fide meal period of 30 minutes or more can be unpaid when the teen is completely relieved of duty.
Confirm with the Kansas Department of Labor before relying on a break, and see the federal breaks & meal-period reference for the FLSA paid-vs-unpaid rules.
Pay & minimum wage
Kansas sets no independent minimum-wage rate, so the federal Fair Labor Standards Act governs: a $7.25 standard minimum and a $4.25 youth minimum for workers under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days. Confirm the current figures before relying on them.
- How minors are paid
- Federal minimum-wage rules
- State minimum wage
- No state rate
- Below-minimum youth rate
- Permitted
- Subminimum structure
- Federal $4.25 youth minimum for under-20s during the first 90 consecutive calendar days (29 USC § 206(g)); FLSA learner / student certificates also apply.
The federal minimum applies instead.
Kansas sets a state minimum but at exactly the federal $7.25 figure, and it creates no youth, training, or learner subminimum of its own — so the federal structure governs, including the $4.25 youth wage for under-20s in their first 90 calendar days. Any state learner / apprentice rate requires a permit from the secretary, so it is not a general teen rate.
Rates change yearly. This page describes the legal structure, not the current dollar amount. State and federal minimum wages are adjusted regularly — always verify the live figure with your state Department of Labor or the U.S. DOL before relying on it.
See the federal youth minimum wage reference for the $4.25 90-day rule, student / learner certificates, the tipped cash wage, and how a higher state minimum wins.
Agricultural work carve-out
Kansas largely mirrors the federal agricultural carve-out under FLSA § 213(c)(1). The rules below confirm what applies for farm work in this state.
Mirrors federal Ag HO-1 to Ag HO-11.
Kansas does not regulate agricultural minor employment at the state level — the Kansas Department of Labor defers entirely to federal FLSA § 213(c) for farm work. No state minimum age, no state hour cap, and no state employment certificate apply to agricultural employment. The federal floor governs: 14+ may work off-farm in non-hazardous ag outside school hours; 12-13 may work outside school hours with written parental consent or on the same farm where a parent is employed; under-12 only on farms not subject to FLSA minimum-wage rules. Federal Ag HO-1 to Ag HO-11 (operating tractors over 20 PTO horsepower, harvesters, certain pesticides, etc.) govern at 16+, with the standard parent-owned-farm exemption from those hazardous orders. State general child-labor restrictions (e.g., hazardous occupations under K.S.A. § 38-603) may also overlay in some scenarios.
See the federal agricultural-work reference for the FLSA § 213(c) baseline, parental-exemption rules, and the Ag HO-1 to Ag HO-11 hazardous list.
Statute: K.S.A. §§ 38-602, 38-603 (Kansas is silent on agricultural minor employment; federal FLSA § 213(c) governs)
Family-business carve-out
Kansas largely mirrors the federal parent-owned-business carve-out under FLSA § 213(c)(1)(C). The rules below confirm what applies when a minor works for a parent-owned business in this state.
Federal hazardous orders always apply — the parent-owned-business carve-out never reaches mining, manufacturing, or HO-listed work.
Kansas adopts the federal FLSA child-labor framework wholesale and the Kansas Department of Labor explicitly defers to federal § 213(c) for both agricultural and non-agricultural minor employment. The federal § 213(c)(1)(C) parent-employed exemption governs as the operating rule: a minor of any age may work for the minor's own parent in a non-hazardous, non-mining, non-manufacturing business owned, operated, or controlled by that parent without any federal hour cap, federal permit, or federal minimum age. Kansas does not require a state Work Permit / Age Certificate for any minor employment, so no state administrative layer overrides the federal carve-out. K.S.A. § 38-603 carries through state hazardous-occupations restrictions that may overlay in some scenarios — verify with the Kansas Department of Labor before relying on the carve-out. Federal hazardous orders HO-1 through HO-17 always apply, and parent-owned manufacturing or mining employment for under-16 remains barred by federal law regardless of parent ownership.
See the federal family-business reference for the FLSA § 213(c)(1)(C) baseline, ownership-structure rules, and the hazardous-occupations overlay that always applies.
Statute: K.S.A. §§ 38-602, 38-603 (Kansas Child Labor Law — defers to federal FLSA for hour caps and parent-employed framework); federal mirror of 29 USC § 213(c)(1)(C)
Entertainment-industry work
Kansas does not separately regulate child performers (film, TV, theater, modeling). The general age-band hour caps and work-permit rules above apply to entertainment-industry work for minors. Federal FLSA carves out actors and performers from the general 14-year minimum age (29 CFR § 570.122), but neither federal nor Kansas law imposes a blocked-trust requirement on a child performer’s earnings.
States with dedicated child-performer frameworks (Coogan-style trust accounts, on-set studio teachers, performer-specific permits) include California, New York, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
Where these rules come from
State code: Kansas Statutes Annotated §§ 38-601 to 38-614 (Child Labor)
US DOL Wage & Hour Division: https://www.dol.ks.gov/employers/laws-regulations/child-labor-law
Last verified:
Informational only — verify with the Kansas Department of Labor before hiring or starting work.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a 14-year-old work in Kansas?
- Yes — under Kansas law a 14-year-old can work up to 3 hours per school day, up to 18 hours per week, between 07:00 and 19:00.
- How many hours can a 15-year-old work during school in Kansas?
- When school is in session, Kansas allows a 15-year-old to work up to 3 hours per school day, up to 18 hours per week, between 07:00 and 19:00. During summer or school breaks the cap rises to up to 8 hours per school day, up to 40 hours per week, between 07:00 and 21:00.
- Does Kansas require a work permit for minors?
- Kansas does not require a state-issued work permit for minors. Employers still must follow federal FLSA rules on hour caps and restricted occupations.
- Can a teen be paid less than minimum wage in Kansas?
- Yes, for a limited window. Kansas follows the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows a $4.25 youth minimum wage for workers under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days; after that the $7.25 federal minimum applies. Minimum-wage dollar amounts change almost every year, so confirm the current figure with the Kansas Department of Labor. See the Pay and minimum wage section on this page.
- What jobs can a minor not do in Kansas?
- Kansas prohibits minors from a number of hazardous occupations, including: all federal hazardous orders ho-1 through ho-17; operating power-driven meat-processing machines; roofing operations and work on or about a roof. The full list of federal hazardous orders (HO-1 through HO-17) also applies. See the Kansas Statutes Annotated §§ 38-601 to 38-614 (Child Labor) citation on this page for the statutory source.