2023 New York Laws › LAB - Labor › Article 4 - Employment of Minors › 131 - Employment of Minors Fourteen or Fifteen Years of Age.

§  131.  Employment  of minors fourteen or fifteen years of age. 1. No
minor fourteen or fifteen years of  age  shall  be  employed  in  or  in
connection  with  any  trade,  business, or service when attendance upon
instruction is required by the education law.
2. When attendance upon instruction is not required by  the  education
law,  a  minor  fourteen  or  fifteen years of age may be employed if he
presents an employment certificate or permit issued in  accordance  with
the  education law; provided, however, that no minor fourteen or fifteen
years of age shall be employed in or in connection with a factory.
3. Exceptions:
a. When attendance upon instruction is not required by  the  education
law, a minor fourteen or fifteen years of age may be employed without an
employment certificate or permit in the following occupations:
(1) Caddy service on a golf course;
(2) Service as a baby sitter staying with and at the home of a younger
child  or  children  with  or  without the presence at such home of such
child's or children's parents or guardians;
(3) Casual employment consisting of yard work and household chores  in
and  about  a  residence or the premises of a non-profit, non-commercial
organization, not involving the use of power-driven machinery;
(4) Assisting a parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent or  guardian  in  the
sale of produce of a farm that is owned or leased by the minor's parent,
aunt, uncle, grandparent or guardian, at a farm stand or farmer's market
stand  that  is  owned  or  leased  by  the minor's parent, aunt, uncle,
grandparent or guardian, at times when school in not in session and  the
minor  is  accompanied  by  the  parent or guardian or has presented the
written consent of the parent or guardian.
(5) Caddie service at a bridge tournament;
(6) Work for his parents or guardians either on the home  farm  or  at
other  outdoor  work  not  connected with or for any trade, business, or
service.
b. Nothing  in  this  section  shall  be  construed  to  prohibit  the
employment  of  a  minor  fourteen  or  fifteen  years of age as a child
performer in compliance with section 35.01  of  the  arts  and  cultural
affairs law and article four-A of this chapter.
c.  Nothing  in  this  section  shall  be  construed  to  apply to the
employment of a minor fourteen or fifteen years of age as a child  model
in compliance with section 35.05 of the arts and cultural affairs law.
d.  Nothing in this section, or the hours of work requirements of this
chapter, shall apply to a newspaper carrier in compliance  with  section
thirty-two  hundred twenty-eight of the education law. The picking up of
newspapers at a newspaper plant shall not be construed to be  employment
in  or in connection with a factory if there is provided a place for the
picking up  of  such  newspapers,  which  place  does  not  contain  any
dangerous  machinery or equipment and does not afford access to space in
which any such dangerous machinery or equipment is located.
e. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the employment  of  a  minor
fifteen years old who is found to be incapable of profiting from further
instruction  available and who presents a special employment certificate
issued in accordance with the education law. Such employment certificate
shall not be valid for work in or in connection with a factory.
f. A minor fourteen or fifteen years of age may be  employed  in  farm
service,  when  attendance  upon  instruction  is  not  required  by the
education law, provided such minor presents a farm work permit issued in
accordance with the education law. Such permit shall be valid only  when
signed  by  the  employer  and  it  shall not be valid for work in or in
connection with a factory.
g. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the employment  of  a  minor
fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of age during the school lunch period in a
school cafeteria at the school which the  minor  attends  if  the  minor
presents  an  employment  certificate  issued  in  accordance  with  the
education law.
4. Employment in delivery and clerical employments:
a.  Nothing  contained in this article shall be deemed to prohibit the
employment of a minor fourteen or  fifteen  years  of  age  for  whom  a
student non-factory employment certificate has been issued in accordance
with  the  provisions  of  the  education  law, in delivery and clerical
employments:
(1) in an office of a factory, provided that such office  is  enclosed
and  separate  from  the  place  where  manufacturing is carried on, and
provided that the minor is not engaged in any manufacturing operation or
process; or
(2) in or in connection with dry cleaning stores, tailor  shops,  shoe
repair  shops  and  similar  service  stores  which clean, press, alter,
repair or dye articles or goods  belonging  to  the  ultimate  consumer,
provided  that  such  employment  does  not involve the use of dangerous
machinery or equipment, or chemical processes.
b. The commissioner may promulgate  rules  and  regulations  which  he
deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this subdivision.
5. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the employment
of a minor fourteen or fifteen years of age in any occupation prohibited
by section one hundred thirty-three of this chapter.
6. Nothing in this section shall prevent the rendering of services for
the  public  good  by  a  minor of fourteen or fifteen years pursuant to
section seven hundred fifty-eight-a or 353.6 of the family court act.