Oregon minors: strict hour limits, employment certificates, full minimum wage.
Oregon's child labor rules under ORS 653.305-370 and OAR 839-021 are among the more protective in the country. Workers ages 14-15 face strict daily and weekly hour limits and time-of-day restrictions. Workers ages 16-17 have more flexibility but still face weekly hour caps and bans on hazardous occupations. All minors must obtain an employment certificate (validated by the school) before starting work. Full minimum wage applies — Oregon does not have a youth subminimum wage.
Minor Employment Compliance
Enforces age-based hour limits and time-of-day restrictions. Validates employment certificate. Blocks hazardous occupation assignments. Tracks school-day vs non-school-day hours.
What those rules do at hire and at scheduling.
The hero card configuration: Block on hour limits + hazardous work, Flag on certificate expiration.
When a minor's scheduled hours exceed the daily or weekly limits for their age tier, the schedule save fails. The system surfaces the applicable limit (e.g., 3 hr/school day for 14-15) and the current scheduled hours.
Minors cannot work in occupations on the federal Hazardous Occupations Orders list (manufacturing operations, certain construction work, motor vehicle driving, etc.). Role assignments to hazardous occupations are blocked at the worker level.
Employment certificates issued by the school must be current. Teambridge tracks expiration and surfaces renewals before the certificate lapses.
Deploy Oregon minor employment rules in your Teambridge.
Tell us about your Oregon workforce — including any workers under 18. We'll spin up age-tier hour limits, time-of-day enforcement, hazardous occupation blocking, and employment certificate tracking — and 21 other Oregon policies in a sandbox tenant.
Two age tiers, strict hour limits, certificate required, full minimum wage.
Oregon's child labor framework operates on federal Fair Labor Standards Act minimums plus state-specific enhancements. The state rules are generally more protective.
Ages 14-15 limits
3 hours per school day, 18 hours per school week, 8 hours per non-school day, 40 hours per non-school week. Time-of-day restrictions: 7 AM to 7 PM during the school year, extended to 9 PM during summer (June 1 to Labor Day). Schedule changes around school session boundaries are common scheduling complications.
Ages 16-17 limits
44 hours per workweek (including OT exemption — minors do not work overtime past 44 hours in Oregon). No daily hour limits except those imposed by school enrollment. No time-of-day restrictions for non-school nights, but enrolled minors face restrictions consistent with school attendance. Higher-risk occupations remain prohibited.
Teambridge runs age-tier scheduling and validates certificates.
School-year vs summer transitions and certificate expiration are the operational watchpoints.
School day vs non-school day applied.
Each shift for a minor calculates against their age tier: 14-15 use 3 hr/school-day vs 8 hr/non-school-day limits; 16-17 use the 44 hr/week limit. School calendars determine which limit applies on each day.
School-year vs summer windows.
Time-of-day restrictions (7 AM-7 PM school year, 7 AM-9 PM summer for 14-15 ages) are enforced at scheduling. Overnight or late shifts for under-16 minors are blocked.
Federal HOO list applied.
Role assignments are validated against the federal Hazardous Occupations Orders list. Minors cannot be assigned to power-driven machinery, manufacturing operations, motor-vehicle driving, or other listed occupations.
Certificate expiration surfaced.
Each minor's employment certificate is tracked with issue date and expiration. Renewals are surfaced before lapse; expired certificates block scheduling.
Still evaluating? Get a free Oregon compliance audit.
Send us your existing Oregon scheduling and pay configuration. Our compliance team returns a written audit within 5 business days — every Oregon-specific exposure ranked by risk and back-pay liability.