School’s Out for Summer: Minor Employee and Intern Considerations

By Tracie E. Stender and D. Alexander Kat

School’s out, and employers across California are gearing up to hire high school students and interns for the summer. Fresh perspectives, new energy, mentoring opportunities for existing staff — there’s plenty to gain. Nevertheless, with hiring minors and interns come legal guardrails. Employers may want to consider whether securing valid work permits, complying with minor-specific wage-and-hour laws, and protecting young workers’ safety is worth the benefit. When bringing on seasonal interns, employers may also want to consider California’s prohibition on treating unpaid interns as unpaid employees.

Wage and Hour Laws

Minors get the same wage and hour protections as everyone else: minimum wage, overtime, meal and rest breaks. No shortcuts. The difference is that most teenagers have never punched a time clock or tracked a meal period, so training matters. Employers may want to review training policies to ensure minors know how to clock in and out, when to take breaks, when to start and stop work (so they don’t work past their permitted hours), and who to go to with questions.

Safety

Minors are already barred from many hazardous occupations, but injuries can happen anywhere. Employers may want to consider revisiting their Illness and Injury Prevention Program (IIPP), required under Cal/OSHA regulations, and tailor the training to the minor’s actual role. Beyond that, the basics go a long way: watch minors while they work and correct mistakes early; make it clear they should speak up when something doesn’t make sense; and remind frontline supervisors that they are setting the example, not just assigning the tasks.

Work Permits

Even when school is out for summer break, with a few exceptions, employers may wish to review the requirements to secure valid work permits before employing a minor. The process starts with the Statement of Intent to Employ a Minor and Request for Work Permit — Form B1-1. The minor fills out the form, the parent/guardian and employer sign it, and the completed form is submitted to the superintendent of the minor’s school district. From there, the superintendent issues the work permit. Easy enough, right?  Not quite because the permit isn’t permanent. The school district can revoke the permit if the district decides the job is hurting the minor’s health or schooling. Employers may want to consider developing a system to track the permit’s expiration date and make sure the minor’s work schedule lines up with the hours the permit allows. This can mean excluding the minor from shift trading and makeup time policies available to other employees.

Age Restrictions and Prohibited Occupations

California and federal law both cap the hours minors can work and bar them from jobs the U.S. Department of Labor has declared hazardous. How many hours a minor can work — and when — depends on the minor’s age and the time of year. In short, 12-to-15-year-olds face tighter limits than 16- and 17-year-olds, and the rules get more complex when school is in session. For the full breakdown by age, employers can check the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) Minors Summary Chart.

Mandated Reporting

Adult supervisors whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of minors, and human resources employees are designated “mandated reporters” under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA). Under CANRA, advance notice and training to employees who are mandated reporters is required. Employers can utilize the general online training for mandated reporters offered by the State Department of Social Services, Office of Child Abuse Prevention. Small employers with fewer than five (5) employees are exempt.

Intern Protections

Summer internships are a win-win: students gain real-world experience, and employers get mentoring opportunities and a pipeline of future talent. But most interns are employees in the eyes of the law. That means minimum wage, overtime, meal and rest breaks — essentially the whole package. Both federal and state law prohibit employers from using “unpaid” interns as free labor, so classifying any intern as unpaid is worth careful consideration.

That said, unpaid internships aren’t flatly banned. The key question is who benefits most, the student or the employer? Under the “primary beneficiary” test, courts weigh several factors, including the extent to which:

No single factor is dispositive. Courts weigh the totality of the circumstances to determine who primarily benefits from the relationship. California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) is somewhat stricter than the federal courts, especially where interns perform productive work that benefits the employer. A good rule of thumb: if an employer is hiring an intern for its benefit and not for the student’s educational purpose, the employer might consider paying the intern at least minimum wage. Other applicable rules, such as California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), protect interns and volunteers from harassment and discrimination, so the same workplace conduct rules that apply to regular employees apply here, too.

Key Takeaways

Managing work permits, schedule restrictions, wage-and-hour training, safety protocols, mandated reporting, and intern classification can seem like a lot. But the upside can be new perspectives and a stronger pipeline of future talent to rejuvenate and bolster your workforce. Employers may want to consider reviewing their practices and training procedures before summer is in full swing.