2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 149 - Labor and Industries › Section 87 - Employment Permits in General; Approval; Return of Evidence of Age; Certificate by Town Clerk; Notice of Child's Violation of Statute

Section 87. An employment permit shall be issued only by the superintendent of schools or by a person authorized by him in writing, or, where there is no superintendent of schools, by a person authorized in writing by the school committee of the town where the child to whom it is issued resides during his employment or the town where the child attends school, or, if the child resides outside the commonwealth, of the town where the child is to be employed; provided, that no member of a school committee or other person authorized as aforesaid shall have authority to issue a permit for a child then in or about to enter that person's own employment or the employment of a firm or corporation of which he is a member, officer or employee. If an employment permit is issued to a minor under 16 years of age authorizing employment in a town other than that of his residence, a duplicate thereof shall be sent forthwith to the superintendent of schools of the town where the employment is authorized. Minors 17 years of age who can show documented proof of a high school diploma or the equivalent thereof to the person issuing employment permits may be employed without the signature of a superintendent of schools or by a person so authorized. The minor shall provide the person issuing employment permits a pledge or promise form, signed by the employer, the prospective employee and his parent or guardian.
The person issuing an employment permit, shall, before issuing it, receive, examine, approve and file the following papers, duly executed:
(1) A pledge or promise, signed by the prospective employee and his parent or guardian, and, signed by the employer or by an authorized manager or superintendent, setting forth the character of the specific employment, the number of hours per day during which the child is to be regularly employed, and the name and address of the employer, in which pledge or promise the employer agrees to employ the child in accordance with this chapter which is summarized on the pledge or promise form, and to return the employment permit as provided in section eighty-six.
(2) The school record of a minor under 16 years of age, filled out and signed as provided in section eighty-eight, except when such record may be waived thereunder; and evidence that a minor 16 years of age or older meets the requirements for the completion of the sixth grade of the public schools of the town in which he resides.
(3) For a minor under 16 years of age, a certificate, signed within the previous 12 months, by a school or family physician, or by a physician appointed by the school committee, stating that the minor has been thoroughly examined by the physician and, in his opinion, is in sound health.
(4) Evidence of age, showing that the child is of the age required for the issuance of the permit, which shall consist of one of the following proofs of age:
(a) A birth certificate, or a duly attested transcript thereof, made by a registrar of vital statistics or other officer charged with the duty of recording births.
(b) A baptismal certificate, or a duly attested transcript thereof, showing the age and date of baptism of the child.
(c) If none of the aforesaid proofs of age is obtainable, and only in such case, the person issuing employment permits may accept in lieu thereof a passport or a duly attested immigration record, or transcript thereof, showing the age of the child, or other official or religious record of the child's age; provided, that it shall appear to the satisfaction of said person that the same is good and sufficient evidence of the child's age.
(d) If none of the aforesaid proofs of age is obtainable, and only in such case, the person issuing employment permits may accept in lieu thereof a record of age as given on the register of the school which the child first attended in the commonwealth; provided, that such record was kept for at least two years during the time when such child attended school.
(e) If none of the aforesaid proofs of age is obtainable, and only in such case, the person issuing employment permits may receive the signed statement of the school physician, or of the physician appointed by the school committee, stating that after examination it is the opinion of such physician that the child is at least of the age required for the issuance of the permit. Such physician's statement shall be accompanied by a statement signed by the child's parent, guardian or custodian, or, if such child has no parent, guardian or custodian, by the signed statement of the next adult friend. Such signed statement shall contain the name, date and place of birth and residence of the child, and shall certify that the parent, guardian, custodian or next friend signing it is unable to produce any of the proofs of age specified in this section. Such statement shall be so signed in the presence of the person issuing the employment permit. The person issuing employment permits may, before issuing such a permit, require the parent, guardian, custodian, or next adult friend of the child to appear and approve in writing the issuance of such permit.
No superintendent of schools, school committee or other person authorized to receive, examine, approve and file such evidence of age, shall retain against the will of such child, his parent or guardian, such evidence of age, for a longer time than is reasonably necessary for making a copy, photostat or reasonable facsimile thereof, which shall be filed in place of the original and the original shall be returned to such child, his parent or guardian.
A certificate relating to the age or place of birth of any child or to any other fact sought to be established in relation to school attendance shall be issued, upon request, by a town clerk, and no fee shall be charged therefor by a town clerk or other official.
The superintendent of schools or a person authorized by him in writing may revoke for cause the permit for employment of any child employed in private domestic service, if not in the employ of a member of his immediate family, or service as a farm laborer in the employ of any person other than his parent or legal guardian. Whenever such a permit authorizing employment of a child elsewhere than in his place of residence is held by him the superintendent of schools of the town of his employment shall forthwith notify the superintendent of schools issuing the permit of the child's failure to comply with any pertinent provision of law.