WY · State teen labor law
Wyoming teen labor law — work hours, permits, and restricted jobs
Wyoming mirrors federal FLSA child-labor rules with no state-level additions. No state-issued work permit is required and 16-17-year-olds face no state hour or curfew restrictions.
Quick facts
School year vs summer hour caps
Wyoming 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: Wyoming imposes no state hour or time-of-day restriction on 16- and 17-year-olds.
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
Wyoming does not require a state-issued work permit for minors.
Wyoming 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 Wyoming Department of Workforce Services enforces remaining child-labor rules through complaint and inspection.
Jobs by age
Age-specific guides to common allowed jobs in Wyoming, 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: W.S. §27-6-107
Sale or service of alcohol for minors under 21
State: W.S. §12-6-101
See the full federal hazardous orders (HO-1 to HO-17) for plain-English summaries, or the Wyoming hazardous-orders deep-dive for the federal floor plus Wyoming-specific additions.
Breaks & meal periods
Wyoming 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 Wyoming 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
Wyoming 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
- Wyoming's own statutory minimum wage (Wyo. Stat. § 27-4-202(a)) is set BELOW the federal $7.25 floor, so for FLSA-covered employment the federal $7.25 standard minimum governs upward. The federal FLSA structure therefore controls: $7.25 standard minimum, and a $4.25 federal youth wage that any worker under age 20 may be paid certificate-free during the first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. Wyoming's own youth provision (§ 27-4-202(c)) mirrors the federal rule exactly.
The federal minimum applies instead.
Wyoming's state minimum in § 27-4-202(a) is set below the federal $7.25, so FLSA $7.25 governs for covered employment — hence the state is classified defers-to-federal even though Wyoming has its own minimum-wage statute on the books (credited here). Wyoming's youth provision in § 27-4-202(c) is a certificate-free rate for under-20 workers that exactly mirrors the federal $4.25/90-day youth wage (29 U.S.C. § 206(g)), so it is treated as the federal scheme rather than a distinct state subminimum. The statute also carries an anti-displacement clause: an employer may not cut existing workers' hours, wages, or benefits to hire others at the youth 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
Wyoming 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.
Wyoming's child-labor statute under W.S. § 27-6-107 permits children under 14 to work in farm, domestic, or lawn and yard service — explicitly carving agriculture out of the state's general under-14 employment prohibition. Wyoming maintains no other state-level regulation specific to minor agricultural employment: there is no state minimum age, no daily/weekly hour cap, no time-of-day restriction, and no employment certificate for ag work. The federal § 213(c) floor governs commercial farm work off the family farm: 14+ 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.
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: W.S. § 27-6-107 (state child-labor act expressly excludes farm, domestic, and lawn/yard service from the under-14 prohibition; state has no separate ag regulation)
Family-business carve-out
Wyoming 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.
Wyoming's Chapter 27-6 child-labor statute is among the narrowest in the country in scope, with W.S. § 27-6-107 explicitly carving agriculture, domestic, and lawn/yard service out of the state's under-14 prohibition. Wyoming does not require a state Work Permit / Employment Certificate for any minor employment, and 16-17-year-olds face no state hour or curfew restrictions. The federal § 213(c)(1)(C) parent-employed framework 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 or federal permit. 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.
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: W.S. §§ 27-6-101 to 27-6-116 (Wyoming Child Labor — narrow state scope); federal mirror of 29 USC § 213(c)(1)(C)
Entertainment-industry work
Wyoming 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 Wyoming 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: Wyoming Statutes §§ 27-6-101 to 27-6-116 (Child Labor)
US DOL Wage & Hour Division: https://dws.wyo.gov/dws-division/labor-standards/
Last verified:
Informational only — verify with the Wyoming Department of Labor before hiring or starting work.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a 14-year-old work in Wyoming?
- Yes — under Wyoming 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 Wyoming?
- When school is in session, Wyoming 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 Wyoming require a work permit for minors?
- Wyoming 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 Wyoming?
- Yes, for a limited window. Wyoming 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 Wyoming Department of Labor. See the Pay and minimum wage section on this page.
- What jobs can a minor not do in Wyoming?
- Wyoming 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 Wyoming Statutes §§ 27-6-101 to 27-6-116 (Child Labor) citation on this page for the statutory source.