RI · State teen labor law
Rhode Island teen labor law — work hours, permits, and restricted jobs
Rhode Island caps 16-17-year-olds at 9 hours per day and 48 hours per week with an 11:30 PM school-night curfew. A Special Limited Permit is required for 14-15-year-olds; older teens need only employer-kept age verification.
Quick facts
School year vs summer hour caps
Rhode Island 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 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: 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
- 06:00 – 21:00
Note: Summer hours apply from the last day of school in June through Labor Day. RI allows a 6:00 AM start.
Ages 16–17
School year
When school is in session
- Max hours per day
- 9 hr
- Max hours per week
- 48 hr
- Time window
- 06:00 – 23:30
Note: Daily cap of 9 hours, weekly cap of 48 hours. Up to 11:30 PM on nights not preceding a school day. Maximum 6 days per week.
Summer / school breaks
When school is out
- Max hours per day
- 9 hr
- Max hours per week
- 48 hr
- Time window
- 06:00 – 00:30
Note: Up to 12:30 AM during the summer.
Work permit
Rhode Island requires a work permit for minors aged 14–15.
Minors 14-15 obtain a Special Limited Permit from their school district issuing officer. The minor presents the employer's offer plus a parent or guardian's signature. The permit is job-specific. 16- and 17-year-olds do not need a permit but the employer keeps age verification on file.
Form: Special Limited Permit
Rhode Island work-permit reference (official source) →
Jobs by age
Age-specific guides to common allowed jobs in Rhode Island, 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: RI Gen Laws §28-3-1
Sale or service of alcohol for minors under 18
State: RI Gen Laws §3-8-11.1
See the full federal hazardous orders (HO-1 to HO-17) for plain-English summaries, or the Rhode Island hazardous-orders deep-dive for the federal floor plus Rhode Island-specific additions.
Breaks & meal periods
Rhode Island 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
- 20 minutes
- Required after
- 6 consecutive hours
- Pay treatment
- Unpaid
Unpaid when the teen is completely relieved of duty.
Rhode Island's meal law is tiered: all employees are entitled to a 20-minute mealtime within a 6-hour work shift and a 30-minute mealtime within an 8-hour work shift (R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-3-14). Although the section sits inside Chapter 28-3 "Employment of Children," its text applies to "all employees," so it is a general law that also covers minors. The mealtime is unpaid. Two exceptions apply: employers of licensed healthcare facilities, and employers with fewer than 3 employees on a shift at the worksite. Rhode Island mandates no short paid rest break.
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: R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-3-14
Pay & minimum wage
Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island 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 certificate-free reduced rates written directly into the statute: (1) minors aged 14 and 15 may be paid not less than 75% of the state minimum for weeks in which they work 24 hours or fewer (any hours over 24 in a week must be paid at the full state minimum); and (2) a full-time student who has not reached their 19th birthday, employed in religious, educational, library, or community-service activities of a nonprofit, may be paid not less than 90% of the state minimum. Both apply automatically when the conditions are met — no special subminimum-wage certificate from the Department of Labor is required.
Rhode Island's standard minimum is well above the federal $7.25. The 75% rate (ages 14-15, weeks of 24 hours or fewer) and the 90% rate (full-time students under 19 in nonprofit/educational/religious/library/community-service employment) are flat statutory percentages that reach an ordinary first-job teen without any special DOL subminimum-wage certificate — the only documents involved are the standard intention-to-employ-a-minor form and a work permit / certificate of age, which are child-labor authorizations required to employ any minor, not a wage-reduction certificate. Because the structure is a distinct percentage-of-state-minimum (not the federal $4.25/90-day rule), the state is subminimum-allowed.
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
Rhode Island 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.
Rhode Island's child-labor act in Chapter 28-3 does not regulate agricultural employment of minors — there is no state minimum age, no state daily/weekly hour cap, no time-of-day restriction, and no Special Limited Permit requirement for farm work. The federal § 213(c) floor governs commercial agriculture: 14+ off-farm in non-hazardous ag outside school hours; 12-13 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. The standard federal § 213(c)(1) parent-owned-farm exemption applies. Federal Ag HO-1 to Ag HO-11 govern at 16+ off the family farm, with the federal student-learner and 4-H tractor-certification carve-outs at 14-15. Note also that R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-12-5 exempts agricultural workers entirely from Rhode Island's state overtime act.
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: R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 28-3 (state law is silent on commercial agricultural minor employment); R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-12-5 (overtime act exempts anyone employed in agriculture)
Family-business carve-out
Rhode Island 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.
Rhode Island's Chapter 28-3 child-labor act carries the federal parent-employed exemption forward. The state's Special Limited Permit (required for 14-15-year-olds) does not separately reach minors working in a parent-owned non-hazardous business — federal § 213(c)(1)(C) governs, and 16-17-year-olds rely only on employer-maintained age verification. The state's 9-hour daily cap and 48-hour weekly cap on 16-17-year-olds with the 11:30 PM school-night curfew apply to non-family-business employment. Federal hazardous orders HO-1 through HO-17 always apply (no parent-owned-business carve-out exists for them), and parent-owned manufacturing or mining employment for under-16 remains barred by federal law regardless of parent ownership. Verify the specific business context with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training before relying on the carve-out.
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: R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 28-3 (Employment of Children); federal mirror of 29 USC § 213(c)(1)(C)
Entertainment-industry work
Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island 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: Rhode Island General Laws Chapter 28-3 (Employment of Children)
US DOL Wage & Hour Division: https://dlt.ri.gov/regulation-and-safety/labor-standards/child-labor-laws
Last verified:
Informational only — verify with the Rhode Island Department of Labor before hiring or starting work.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a 14-year-old work in Rhode Island?
- Yes — under Rhode Island 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. A Rhode Island work permit is required.
- How many hours can a 15-year-old work during school in Rhode Island?
- When school is in session, Rhode Island 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 06:00 and 21:00.
- Does Rhode Island require a work permit for minors?
- Yes — Rhode Island requires a work permit for minors aged 14-15 (form: Special Limited Permit). Minors 14-15 obtain a Special Limited Permit from their school district issuing officer. The minor presents the employer's offer plus a parent or guardian's signature. The permit is job-specific. 16- and 17-year-olds do not need a permit but the employer keeps age verification on file.
- How many hours can a 16-year-old work during summer in Rhode Island?
- During summer or school breaks, Rhode Island allows a 16-year-old to work up to 9 hours per school day, up to 48 hours per week, between 06:00 and 00:30. 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 Rhode Island?
- Yes. Rhode Island requires a 20-minute unpaid meal break once a worker reaches 6 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 Rhode Island?
- Sometimes. Rhode Island lets some teens, or inexperienced first-job and trainee workers, be paid below the standard state minimum wage without a special certificate. Two certificate-free reduced rates written directly into the statute: (1) minors aged 14 and 15 may be paid not less than 75% of the state minimum for weeks in which they work 24 hours or fewer (any hours over 24 in a week must be paid at the full state minimum); and (2) a full-time student who has not reached their 19th birthday, employed in religious, educational, library, or community-service activities of a nonprofit, may be paid not less than 90% of the state minimum. Both apply automatically when the conditions are met — no special subminimum-wage certificate from the Department of Labor is required. Minimum-wage dollar amounts change almost every year, so confirm the current figure with the Rhode Island Department of Labor. See the Pay and minimum wage section on this page.
- What jobs can a minor not do in Rhode Island?
- Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island General Laws Chapter 28-3 (Employment of Children) citation on this page for the statutory source.