VT · State teen labor law
Vermont teen labor law — work hours, permits, and restricted jobs
Vermont repealed its age-certificate requirement in 2019 and now relies on employer-kept age verification. The only state-specific cap on 16-17-year-olds is a 50-hour weekly limit.
Quick facts
School year vs summer hour caps
Vermont 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: 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
- 8 hr
- Max hours per week
- 50 hr
- Time window
- No state limit
Note: Vermont's only state-specific cap on 16-17 is a 50-hour weekly limit during the school year and a daily 8-hour cap on school days.
Summer / school breaks
When school is out
- Max hours per day
- 8 hr
- Max hours per week
- 50 hr
- Time window
- No state limit
Note: Same 50-hour weekly cap year-round.
Work permit
Vermont does not require a state-issued work permit for minors.
Vermont repealed its work-permit (age certificate) requirement in 2019. Employers must keep proof of age on file (driver's license, certified birth certificate, or state ID). The Vermont Department of Labor enforces remaining child-labor rules through complaint and inspection.
Jobs by age
Age-specific guides to common allowed jobs in Vermont, 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: 21 V.S.A. §433
Sale or service of alcohol for minors under 18
State: 7 V.S.A. §658
See the full federal hazardous orders (HO-1 to HO-17) for plain-English summaries, or the Vermont hazardous-orders deep-dive for the federal floor plus Vermont-specific additions.
Breaks & meal periods
Vermont 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
- Not specified
- Required after
- Not specified
- Pay treatment
- Unpaid
Unpaid when the teen is completely relieved of duty.
Vermont takes a flexible approach: an employer must give employees "reasonable opportunities during work periods to eat and to use toilet facilities in order to protect the health and hygiene of the employee." There is no fixed meal length, no trigger-hour threshold, and no minor-specific rule — the standard covers all employees, minors included. Vermont DOL follows the federal floor on pay: a bona fide meal period of 30+ uninterrupted minutes where the teen is completely relieved of duty is unpaid, while shorter or interrupted breaks count as paid hours worked. Vermont's child-labor provisions (21 V.S.A. §§ 430-449) set hours and hazardous-occupation limits but add no separate 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: 21 V.S.A. § 304
Pay & minimum wage
Vermont sets its own minimum wage and minors generally earn the full rate — there is no general youth subminimum a teen can be paid. The structure is stable; the dollar amount changes almost every year, so confirm the current figure with the Vermont Department of Labor.
- How minors are paid
- Full state minimum
- State minimum wage
- Set by state law
- Below-minimum youth rate
- Not permitted
- Subminimum structure
- Vermont sets an annually indexed state minimum well above the federal level and provides no certificate-free youth, training, learner, or opportunity subminimum. An ordinary first-job teen must be paid the full state minimum. The only below-minimum paths (student-learner / vocational-program and disability rates) require a special certificate issued by the Vermont Department of Labor consistent with federal guidelines, so an ordinary teen cannot be paid under them.
A teen earns the full minimum; any lower rate needs a special DOL certificate.
21 V.S.A. § 384 sets an indexed minimum well above federal and contains no youth, training, learner, or opportunity subminimum. The only in-statute below-minimum provision is a tipped/service-employee basic wage (half the minimum for qualifying tipped workers), which is not a youth rate. Any learner/student or disability subminimum is certificate-only (a Vermont DOL special certificate per federal guidelines), and a certificate-only path does not count as subminimum-allowed because an ordinary first-job teen cannot be paid under it.
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
Vermont 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.
Vermont's child-labor law carries a distinctive carve-out: § 430-series "provisions declaring certain occupations to be particularly hazardous for the employment of minors between 16 and 18 years of age or detrimental to their health or well-being do not apply to employment in agriculture" — so Vermont's state hazardous-occupation prohibitions for 16-17-year-olds do not apply to ag work (federal Ag HO-1 to Ag HO-11 still govern at 16+). Vermont's child-labor law (and the FLSA) exempt employment by a parent of the parent's own child, or by a person standing in place of a parent, except in occupations to which the 18-year age minimum applies and in manufacturing and mining occupations — the standard parent-owned-farm carve-out. Age tiers under Vermont + federal: minors under 12 may work in agriculture only on small farms exempt from FLSA minimum-wage requirements ("small" defined as fewer than 500 man-days of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter during the preceding calendar year); 12-13-year-olds may work on a farm with written parental permission or where a parent is employed on the same farm, in non-hazardous jobs only; 14-15-year-olds may work in non-hazardous agriculture on any farm. No state employment certificate is required (Vermont repealed its age-certificate requirement in 2019). Federal Ag HOs govern at 16+ off the family farm.
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: 21 V.S.A. §§ 430-449 (Vermont's hazardous-occupations rules for 16-18-year-olds expressly do not apply to agricultural employment); Code of Vt. R. 24-010-009 (Vermont Child Labor Rules)
Family-business carve-out
Vermont 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.
Vermont's Title 21 Chapter 9 child-labor law explicitly carries the federal parent-employed exemption forward — the statute itself reads that "employment by a parent of the parent's own child, or by a person standing in place of a parent" is exempt from the chapter's restrictions, mirroring federal § 213(c)(1)(C) word-for-word in spirit. Vermont repealed its age-certificate requirement in 2019, so no state Work Permit / Employment Certificate is required for any minor employment. The state's only state-specific cap on 16-17-year-olds — the 50-hour weekly limit — applies 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 the statute's own carve-out from the parent-employed exemption for 18-year-minimum occupations and manufacturing/mining mirrors the federal framework exactly. Parent-owned manufacturing or mining employment for under-16 remains barred by both state and federal law. Verify the specific business context with the Vermont Department of Labor 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: 21 V.S.A. §§ 430-449 (Vermont Child Labor Law — express parent-employed exemption); Code of Vt. R. 24-010-009 (Vermont Child Labor Rules); federal mirror of 29 USC § 213(c)(1)(C)
Entertainment-industry work
Vermont 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 Vermont 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: Vermont Statutes Annotated Title 21 Chapter 9 (§§ 430-449)
US DOL Wage & Hour Division: https://labor.vermont.gov/wage-and-hour/child-labor-laws
Last verified:
Informational only — verify with the Vermont Department of Labor before hiring or starting work.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a 14-year-old work in Vermont?
- Yes — under Vermont 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 Vermont?
- When school is in session, Vermont 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 Vermont require a work permit for minors?
- Vermont does not require a state-issued work permit for minors. Employers still must follow federal FLSA rules on hour caps and restricted occupations.
- How many hours can a 16-year-old work during summer in Vermont?
- During summer or school breaks, Vermont allows a 16-year-old to work up to 8 hours per school day, up to 50 hours per week. Federal FLSA caps for 16- and 17-year-olds do not limit weekly hours, so the stricter state rule (if any) applies.
- Can a teen be paid less than minimum wage in Vermont?
- Generally no. Vermont sets its own minimum wage and minors earn the full rate — there is no general youth subminimum, and any below-minimum rate requires a special DOL certificate. Minimum-wage dollar amounts change almost every year, so confirm the current figure with the Vermont Department of Labor. See the Pay and minimum wage section on this page.
- What jobs can a minor not do in Vermont?
- Vermont 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 Vermont Statutes Annotated Title 21 Chapter 9 (§§ 430-449) citation on this page for the statutory source.