volunteer - child labor

Mikki H

We have an owner of our medical practice who would like his 13-year old son to have some "office" experience as a file clerk this summer. We believe that we could not "hire" him for wages due to age, and not meeting one of the FLSA exemptions. His father would like him still to at least volunteer at the office.

Is there anything we should do in this instance? Any special record keeping? We do not, as a general practice, have volunteers. Is this something that we should refuse? We appreciate any comments

Craig

There are special rules when children work for a family-owned business that may allow you to work around general age restrictions. Of course, they vary from state to state so check with local DOL or state specific info source.

Mikki H

I don't believe we are talking about qualifying under the "family owned" business in this situation. This is one of 4 owners of a corporation, not a completely family owned situation.

We just wanted to make sure that he could still come in as a volunteer without violating any child labor laws. His father will compensate him through additional allowance so that is outside of anything we do.

CuriousG

In the state of Texas you would be in violation of the state's child labor laws. I once worked for a large oil company that held a grand opening for a convenience store. We offered free hot dogs and soft drinks to customers when they gassed up their cars. This was done from a concession trailer on the parking lot.

Employees of the company's administative offices volunteered to work the concession trailer on a Saturday. One employee brought her two children, ages 13 and 14 to help out. A disgruntled former employee filed a complaint with the state wage and hour office which investigated and ruled we had 1) failed to compensate the two minor children at least minimum wage, and 2) had violated the prohibition against children under the age of 15 working during the school year without a work permit. Our problem stemmed from the fact that we paid our administrative office employees for time worked in the concession stand, and therefore the state ruled this was not volunteer work, but compensated work that we should have paid the children for, and that would have then violated the child labor statute.

Nice little "Catch 22." In reality, unless someone were to complain about the 13 year old working "volunteer" in your office, I doubt the wage and hour division would ever know about it. But one disgruntled employee, or former employee, can sure cause a lot of problems though.

Tom Harper FL

You will not like this but, Florida law prohibits employment at this age. I do not think there is a problem with him volunteering without pay. If he gets hurt you have no workers comp and potential liability also. Call me at 904-3963000 to discuss.