NH · State teen labor law
New Hampshire teen labor law — work hours, permits, and restricted jobs
New Hampshire allows 12-13-year-olds to work in limited categories (newspaper delivery, casual yard work, family business). 14-15 caps at 23 hours per school week; 16-17 caps at 30 hours per school week. A school-issued certificate is required under 16.
Quick facts
School year vs summer hour caps
New Hampshire tightens daily and weekly limits while school is in session, then eases them during summer and school breaks. Each age band below shows both calendars side-by-side — a distinction federal summaries and most state-comparison tables skip.
Ages 12–13
School year
When school is in session
- Max hours per day
- Not permitted
- Max hours per week
- Not permitted
- Time window
- No state limit
Note: 12-13-year-olds may work only in non-hazardous limited categories: agriculture with parent, casual yard work, newspaper carriers, and household tasks. No general employment.
Summer / school breaks
When school is out
- Max hours per day
- Not permitted
- Max hours per week
- Not permitted
- Time window
- No state limit
Note: Same exceptions year-round; no general employment permitted.
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
- 23 hr
- Time window
- 07:00 – 21:00
Note: School-week cap of 23 hours (5 more than the federal 18). NH allows a 9:00 PM cutoff vs. federal 7:00 PM.
Summer / school breaks
When school is out
- Max hours per day
- 8 hr
- Max hours per week
- 48 hr
- Time window
- 07:00 – 21:00
Note: Summer cap of 48 hours per week (8 more than federal).
Ages 16–17
School year
When school is in session
- Hrs/day (school day)
- 8 hr
- Hrs/day (Sat / Sun / holiday)
- 10 hr
- Max hours per week
- 30 hr
- Time window
- 05:30 – 00:00
Note: School-week cap of 30 hours (under 2024 amendment HB 1115). Up to 8 hours on a school day, 10 on a non-school day. Up to 6 days/week.
Summer / school breaks
When school is out
- Max hours per day
- 10 hr
- Max hours per week
- 48 hr
- Time window
- 05:30 – 00:00
Note: Summer cap of 48 hours per week with 10-hour daily ceiling.
Work permit
New Hampshire requires a work permit for minors aged 12–15.
Minors under 16 obtain a Youth Employment Certificate from their school principal. The minor presents the employer's offer plus parental consent. The certificate is job-specific. 16- and 17-year-olds need only a written employer-signed agreement and parental permission on file.
Form: New Hampshire Youth Employment Certificate
New Hampshire work-permit reference (official source) →
Jobs by age
Age-specific guides to common allowed jobs in New Hampshire, 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: RSA 276-A:4
Sale or service of alcohol for minors under 18
State: RSA 179:23
See the full federal hazardous orders (HO-1 to HO-17) for plain-English summaries, or the New Hampshire hazardous-orders deep-dive for the federal floor plus New Hampshire-specific additions.
Breaks & meal periods
New Hampshire applies one general meal-break rule to all employees, including minors. Federal law (the FLSA) mandates no break at any age, so this state rule is the binding one for teens too.
- Meal break
- 30 minutes
- Required after
- 5 consecutive hours
- Pay treatment
- Unpaid
Unpaid when the teen is completely relieved of duty.
New Hampshire applies one general meal-break rule to all employees, including minors: an employer may not require more than 5 consecutive hours of work without a 30-minute meal or eating period, unless it is feasible for the worker to eat while working and the employer allows it. The meal period is unpaid, and there is no separate minor break statute.
See the federal breaks & meal-period reference for how the FLSA treats paid rest breaks vs unpaid meal periods, and why a mandatory teen break can only come from state law.
Statute: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 275:30-a
Pay & minimum wage
New Hampshire lets some teens, or inexperienced first-job and trainee workers, be paid below the standard state minimum wage. The structure below is stable, but the dollar amount changes almost every year — confirm the current figure with the New Hampshire Department of Labor.
- How minors are paid
- Youth / training subminimum allowed
- State minimum wage
- Set by state law
- Below-minimum youth rate
- Permitted
- Subminimum structure
- Two distinct, certificate-free below-minimum rates: (1) a person 16 years of age or under may be paid not less than 75% of the applicable statutory minimum, the only requirement being that the employer keep evidence of the worker's age on file; and (2) a person with less than 6 months' experience in an occupation may be paid not less than 75% of the minimum after the employer files an application with the labor commissioner within 10 days of hire. Both are expressed as 75% of the state minimum (not the federal $4.25) and neither requires a discretionary certificate to be granted.
New Hampshire pegs its standard minimum to the federal $7.25 under RSA 279:21, but its youth structure does NOT mirror the federal $4.25/90-day rule. RSA 279:21 contains a state-specific 75%-of-minimum floor for persons 16 and under (certificate-free, only evidence of age kept on file) and a 75% floor for workers with under 6 months' experience (notice filed with the commissioner within 10 days of hire, no discretionary certificate grant). Both are certificate-free paths an ordinary first-job teen can actually be paid, so the state is subminimum-allowed even though the standard minimum equals $7.25. The separate RSA 279:22-aa student rate and the disability provisions are commissioner-gated and do not drive this classification.
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.
Statute: N.H. RSA 279:21 (paras. IV and V)
Agricultural work carve-out
New Hampshire narrows the federal agricultural carve-out — the rules below override the federal floor when a minor works on a farm in this state.
Mirrors federal Ag HO-1 to Ag HO-11.
New Hampshire's Youth Employment Law explicitly carves out farm labor from the Youth Employment Certificate requirement — § 276-A:4 reads that no youth under 16 may work without a certificate except for their parents/grandparents/guardian, casual work as defined, or as farm labor. NH allows minors as young as 12 to work in agriculture in non-hazardous limited categories (alongside casual yard work and household tasks), one of the few states retaining a 12-year-old tier in its state act. The general state hour caps for minors under 16 (3 hours per school day, 23 hours per school week, 8 hours per non-school day, 48 hours per vacation week) apply to agriculture as written, but § 276-A:13 authorizes the commissioner of labor to order the hour-cap restriction suspended for a particular agricultural employer upon written application — a unique state-level safety valve for peak-season farm work. The federal Ag HO-1 to Ag HO-11 list governs hazardous occupations at 16+ off the family farm. The standard federal parent-owned-farm exemption applies.
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: NH RSA §§ 276-A:4 (farm labor exempt from Youth Employment Certificate), 276-A:13 (hour-cap suspension for agricultural work upon employer application)
Family-business carve-out
New Hampshire extends the federal parent-owned-business carve-out beyond the federal "parent only" rule — the rules below apply for family-owned non-agricultural businesses in this state.
Federal hazardous orders always apply — the parent-owned-business carve-out never reaches mining, manufacturing, or HO-listed work.
New Hampshire's RSA § 276-A:4 is one of the more notable state-level broadenings of the federal § 213(c)(1)(C) parent-employed exemption: it explicitly includes grandparents alongside parents and guardians in the Youth Employment Certificate exemption, going beyond the federal 'parent or person standing in the place of a parent' framework. A minor working in a grandparent-owned or grandparent-operated non-hazardous business is exempt from the school-issued Youth Employment Certificate requirement that otherwise applies to all under-16 employment in New Hampshire. The exemption combines with NH's distinctive 12-13 age tier (which allows limited employment in newspaper delivery, casual yard work, and family business) to create one of the most permissive frameworks in New England for family-controlled work at younger ages. The state's general hour caps (23 hours per school week for under-16, 30 hours per school week for 16-17) apply to non-family-business employment. Federal hazardous orders HO-1 through HO-17 always apply (no parent-or-grandparent-business carve-out exists for them), and parent-owned manufacturing or mining employment for under-16 remains barred by federal law.
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: RSA § 276-A:4 (Youth Employment Certificate exemption for minors working for parents, grandparents, or guardian)
Entertainment-industry work
New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 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: New Hampshire RSA 276-A (Youth Employment Law)
US DOL Wage & Hour Division: https://www.nh.gov/labor/inspection/youth-employment.htm
Last verified:
Informational only — verify with the New Hampshire Department of Labor before hiring or starting work.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a 14-year-old work in New Hampshire?
- Yes — under New Hampshire law a 14-year-old can work up to 3 hours per school day, up to 23 hours per week, between 07:00 and 21:00. A New Hampshire work permit is required.
- How many hours can a 15-year-old work during school in New Hampshire?
- When school is in session, New Hampshire allows a 15-year-old to work up to 3 hours per school day, up to 23 hours per week, between 07:00 and 21:00. During summer or school breaks the cap rises to up to 8 hours per school day, up to 48 hours per week, between 07:00 and 21:00.
- Does New Hampshire require a work permit for minors?
- Yes — New Hampshire requires a work permit for minors aged 12-15 (form: New Hampshire Youth Employment Certificate). Minors under 16 obtain a Youth Employment Certificate from their school principal. The minor presents the employer's offer plus parental consent. The certificate is job-specific. 16- and 17-year-olds need only a written employer-signed agreement and parental permission on file.
- How many hours can a 16-year-old work during summer in New Hampshire?
- During summer or school breaks, New Hampshire allows a 16-year-old to work up to 10 hours per school day, up to 48 hours per week, between 05:30 and 00:00. Federal FLSA caps for 16- and 17-year-olds do not limit weekly hours, so the stricter state rule (if any) applies.
- Does a minor get a meal break in New Hampshire?
- Yes. New Hampshire requires a 30-minute unpaid meal break once a worker reaches 5 consecutive hours; the rule applies to all employees, including minors. Federal law sets no break requirement at any age, so the state rule is the binding one. See the breaks section on this page for the exact age scope and the statute.
- Can a teen be paid less than minimum wage in New Hampshire?
- Sometimes. New Hampshire lets some teens, or inexperienced first-job and trainee workers, be paid below the standard state minimum wage without a special certificate. Two distinct, certificate-free below-minimum rates: (1) a person 16 years of age or under may be paid not less than 75% of the applicable statutory minimum, the only requirement being that the employer keep evidence of the worker's age on file; and (2) a person with less than 6 months' experience in an occupation may be paid not less than 75% of the minimum after the employer files an application with the labor commissioner within 10 days of hire. Both are expressed as 75% of the state minimum (not the federal $4.25) and neither requires a discretionary certificate to be granted. Minimum-wage dollar amounts change almost every year, so confirm the current figure with the New Hampshire Department of Labor. See the Pay and minimum wage section on this page.
- What jobs can a minor not do in New Hampshire?
- New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire RSA 276-A (Youth Employment Law) citation on this page for the statutory source.