Alaska Child Labor Laws and 14 and 15 Year Olds

Alaska child labor laws have provisions specifically directed to 14 and 15-year-olds, including what times during a day 14 and 15-year-olds may work, how many hours in a week they may work, and what jobs or occupations they may perform. The restrictions on the employment of 14 and 15-year-olds under Alaska’s child labor laws are discussed below.

Time restrictions

Pursuant to Alaska child labor laws, most youth who are 14 or 15 years old may generally work:

• When school is in session:
  • A total of nine (9) hours of school and work combined in one (1) day
  • A total of 23 hours per week outside of school hours when school is in session (except for domestic work and babysitting)
• When school is out of the session:
  • Up to eight (8) hours per day
  • No more than 40 hours per week

Most youth who are 14 or 15 years old may only work between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., and they may not work more than six (6) days per week, regardless of whether school is in session or not.

Alaska Statute 23.10.340, Alaska Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development: Summary of Alaska Child Labor Law

The time restriction discussed above do not apply to youth who are enrollees in work training, apprenticeship, vocational education, and other programs approved by Alaska’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.030(a)

Alaska’s child labor laws permit work training during school hours for minors aged 14 through 17 if the employer has on file an unrevoked written statement from the minor’s school coordinator or the coordinator’s representative. The unrevoked written statement must:

• set out the period during the day that the minor may work,
• certify that the minor will only work during those designated periods,
• certify that the work will not interfere with the health and well-being of the minor, and
• contain a signed statement from the principal at the minor’s school stating that the work will not interfere with the minor’s schooling

Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.030(b)

Prohibited jobs or work environments

Alaska child labor laws allow employers to employ youth who are 14 and 15 years old during the time periods listed above in most jobs. However, they may not work in, about, or in connection with the following:

• Occupations in manufacturing, mining or processing, including workrooms or places where goods are manufactured, mined or otherwise processed
• Occupations involved in the operation of hoisting apparatus or any power-driven machinery other than office machines
• Occupations, except office work, in construction (including demolition and repair)
• Any work in an establishment that serves alcoholic beverages
• Public messenger service
• Occupations, except office work, in or about canneries or other seafood processing plants or establishments involving cutting, slicing, or butchering
• Occupations, except office work, in the operation of any floating plant, which includes the loading and unloading of boats, barges, or scows
• Work performed in or about boilers, engine rooms or retorts
• Work involved with maintenance or repair of the establishment’s machines or equipment
• Occupations in outside window washing that involve working from window sills
• Occupations requiring the use of ladders, scaffolds or their substitutes
• Occupations that involve operating, setting up, adjusting, cleaning, oiling or repairing power-driven food slicers, grinders, food choppers, food cutters and bakery-type mixers
• Occupations involving work in freezers and meat coolers
• Occupations in the preparation of meat for sale
• Loading/unloading goods to or from trucks, railroad cars or conveyers
• Occupations, except office and clerical work, in warehouses and storage
• Occupations involving use of sharpened tools
  • Sharpened tools include knives and implements used for butchering, boning, gilling, filleting, and other meat and fish processing functions; and axes, machetes, scythes, brush hooks, or other implements determined by the commissioner, on a case-by-case basis, to be hazardous. (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.900(a)(5))
• Occupations, except office or sales work, in transportation of persons or property by rail, highway, air, water, pipeline or other means
• Occupations, except office or sales work, in communications and public utilities
• Occupations in or about plants or establishments manufacturing or storing explosives or articles containing explosive components (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.050)
  • Retail establishments that sell ammunition or articles containing explosive components may employ minors as long as the minor does not handle, stock or sale any of the items.
• Occupations of motor vehicle driver or outside helper (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.060)
  • Minors may not, while working, drive automobiles or trucks on public roadways in or about any
    • mine including an open pit and quarry
    • where logging or sawmill operations are located
    • excavations
  • However, minors who are at least 17 years old may, while working, drive automobiles or trucks on public roadways if
    • they only drive during daylight hours
    • they have a state license valid for the type of driving the minors will be doing
    • they have no record of traffic violations, except equipment violations, when hired or while employed
    • they have successfully committed a state-approved driver education course
    • the automobiles and trucks are equipped with seat belts for the drivers and passengers and the minors’ employers have instructed them they must always use the seat belts while driving for work
    • the automobiles or trucks the minors drive do not exceed 6,000 pounds of gross vehicle weight
    • the driving does not involve
      • towing vehicles
      • route deliveries or sales
      • transporting for hire property, including goods, or passengers
      • urgent, time-sensitive deliveries
      • transporting more than three passengers, including employees of the employer
      • driving beyond a 30-mile radius from their place of employment
      • more than two trips away from their primary place of employment in a single day, except for transporting employees of their employers, if the purpose is
        • delivering property, including goods, of their employers to customers that are not urgent time-sensitive deliveries, or
        • transporting passengers if the transportation is not for hire
    • An outside helper is an individual, other than a driver, whose work includes riding on a vehicle outside the cab of the vehicle for the purpose of assisting in transporting or delivering property, including goods. Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.900(a)(11)
• Occupations in connection with mining (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.070)
  • Mining operations may employ minors in the following occupations that are not considered dangerous:
    • work in offices, warehouses, supply houses, change houses, laboratories, and repair or maintenance shops not located underground
    • work in operating and maintaining living quarters
    • work outside the mine in surveying, the repair and maintenance of roads, and general cleanup about the mine property such as clearing brush and digging drainage ditches
• Logging occupations (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.080)
  • Logging operations may employ minors in the following occupations that are not considered dangerous:
    • work in offices or repair or maintenance shops
    • work in constructing, operating, repairing, or maintaining living and administrative quarters of logging camps
    • work in timber cruising, surveying, or logging-engineering parties
    • work in repairing or maintaining roads, railroads, or flumes
    • work in forest protection, such as clearing fire trails or roads, piling and burning trash, maintaining fire-fighting equipment, constructing and maintaining telephone lines, or acting as fire lookout or fire patrol
  • Logging operations may not employ minors in felling or bucking timber, collecting or transplanting logs, operating power-driven machinery, handling or using explosives, and working on trestles.
• Occupations in the operations of any sawmill, lathe mill, shingle mill or cooperage (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.090)
  • Sawmill, lathe mill, shingle mill, and cooperage operations may employ minors in the following occupations that are not considered dangerous:
    • work in office or repair or maintenance shops
    • straightening, marking, or tallying lumber on the dry chain or the dry shop sorter
    • pulling lumber from the dry chain
    • cleanup in the lumberyard
    • piling, handling, or shipping of cooperage-stock in yards or storage sheds other than operating or assisting in the operation of power-driven equipment
    • clerical work in yards or shipping sheds, such as done by ordermen, tallymen, and shipping clerks
    • cleanup work outside shake and shingle mills, except when the mills are in operation
    • splitting shakes manually from pre-cut and split blocks with a froe and mallet, except inside the mill building or cover
    • packing shakes into bundles when done in conjunction with splitting shakes manually with a froe and mallet, except inside the building or cover
    • manual loading of bundles of shingles or shakes into trucks or railroad cars, if the employer has on file a statement from a licensed doctor of medicine or osteopathy certifying the minor capable of performing this work without injury.
  • Portable sawmills the lumberyard of which is used only for the temporary storage of green lumber and in connection with which no office or repair or maintenance shop is ordinarily maintained may not employ minors
• Occupations in the operation of power-driven woodworking machines (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.100)
  • The following occupations are included in this prohibition regarding power-driven woodworking machines:
    • operating power-driven woodworking machines, including supervising or controlling the operation of these machines, feeding material into these machines, and helping the operator to feed material into these machines
    • setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning power-driven woodworking machines
    • off-bearing from circular saws and from guillotine-action veneer clippers.
  • Occupations involving placing of material on a moving chain or in a hopper or slide for automatic feeding are not included in this prohibition.
  • Power-driven woodworking machines include all fixed or portable machines or tools driven by power and used or designed for cutting, shaping, forming, surfacing, nailing, stapling, wire stitching, fastening, or otherwise assembling, pressing, or printing wood or veneer. (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.900(a)(4))
• Occupations with exposure to radioactive substances and to ionizing radiation (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.110)
• Occupations involving exposure to bloodborne pathogens (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.115)
  • Employers, including hospitals, clinics, dental, orthodontic, or other medical or dental offices, may employ minors in occupations that involve exposure to bloodborne pathogens in the following circumstances only:
    • minors who are at least 16 years and are enrolled in or have successfully completed a state-certified nursing training course or a health care career program in conjunction with a high school, either as part of the curriculum or through a school-to-work partnership between the school district and an employer or group of employers
    • minors who are 17 years old and are enrolled in or have successfully completed a health care career program approved by the commissioner that is offered by a training facility other than a school.
• Occupations involving the operation of elevators or other power-driven hoisting apparatus (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.120)
  • The following occupations are included in this prohibition regarding power-driven hoisting apparatus:
    • operating an elevator, crane, derricks, hoist, or high-lift truck
    • work which involves riding on a manlift or on a freight elevator, except a freight elevator operated by an assigned operator
    • assisting in the operation of a crane, derrick, or hoist performed by crane hookers, crane chasers, hookers-on, riggers, rigger helpers, and like occupations
  • Occupations involving operating an unattended automatic passenger elevator or an electric or air-operated hoist not exceeding one-ton capacity are not included in this prohibition.
• Occupations involving the operation of power-driven metal forming, punching, and shearing machines (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.130)
  • The following occupations are included in this prohibition regarding power-driven metal forming, punching, and shearing machines:
    • operator of or helper on the following power-driven metal forming, punching, and shearing machines:
      • all rolling machines, such as beading, straightening, corrugating, flanging, or bending rolls, and hot or cold rolling mills
      • all pressing or punching machines, such as punch presses except those provided with full automatic feed and ejection and with a fixed barrier guard to prevent the hands or finger of the operator from entering the area between the dies, power presses, and plate punches
      • all bending machines, such as apron brakes and press brakes
      • all hammering machines, such as drop hammers and power hammers
      • all shearing machines, such as guillotine or squaring shears, alligator shears, or rotary shears
      • in welding, brazing or the operation of abrasive wheels
    • the occupations of setting-up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning these machines including those with automatic feed and ejection.
  • Occupations that involve operating punching machines with full automatic feed and ejection and with a fixed barrier guard to prevent the hands or finger of the operator from entering the area between the dies, power presses, and plate punches are not included in this prohibition.
• Occupations involving slaughtering, meat packing, processing or rendering (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.140)
• Occupations involved in the operation and cleaning of power-driven bakery machines (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.150)
  • The following occupations are included in this prohibition regarding power-driven bakery machines:
    • operating, assisting to operate, or setting-up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning any horizontal or vertical dough mixer, batter mixer, bread dividing, rounding, or molding machine, dough brake, dough sheeter; combination bread slicing and wrapping machine or cake cutting band saw
    • setting up or adjusting a cookie or cracker machine
• Occupations involved in the operation of power-driven paper products machines (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.160)
  • The following occupations are included in this prohibition regarding power-driven paper products machines:
    • operating or assisting to operate any of the following power-driven paper-products machines:
      • arm-type wire stitcher or stapler, circular or band saw, corner cutter or mitering machine, corrugating and single-or-double-facing machine, envelope die-cutting press, guillotine paper cutter or shear, horizontal bar scorer, laminating or combining machine, sheeting machine, scrap-paper baler, or vertical slotter
      • platen die-cutting press, platen printing press, or punch press which involves hand feeding of the machine
    • setting-up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning these machines including those which do not involve hand feeding.
• Occupations involved in the manufacture of brick, tile and kindred products (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.170)
• Occupations involved in the operation and cleaning of circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.180)
  • The following occupations are included in this prohibition regarding operating and cleaning circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears
    • operator of or helper on the following power-driven fixed or portable machines except machines equipped with full automatic feed and ejection:
      • circular saws
      • band saws
      • guillotine shears
      • setting-up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears
• Occupations involved in wrecking, demolition and shipwrecking operations (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.190)
• Occupations involved in roofing operations (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.200)
• Occupations involved with excavation operations (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.210)
  • The following occupations are included in this prohibition regarding excavation operations:
    • excavating, working in, or backfilling (refilling) trenches except
      • manually excavating or manually backfilling trenches that do not exceed four feet in depth at any point
      • working in trenches that do not exceed four feet in depth at any point
    • excavating for buildings or other structures or working in such excavations, except
      • manually excavating to a depth not exceeding four feet below any ground surface adjoining the excavation
      • working in an excavation not exceeding such depth
      • working in an excavation where the side walls are shored or sloped to the angle of repose
    • working within tunnels prior to the completion of all driving, and shoring operations
    • working within shafts prior to the completion of all sinking and shoring operations
• Occupations involved in electrical work in connection with the installation, operation or maintenance of electrical equipment energized at voltages exceeding 220, the outside erection or repair of any electrical wires including telegraph and telephone lines, and meter testing (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.240)
• Occupations involved in canvassing, peddling, solicitation of door-to-door contributions, or acting as an outside salesman (Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.265)
• Occupations or in any capacity on the premises of a business that offers adult entertainment (Alaska Statute 23.10.350(f)

Alaska Statute 23.10.350, 23.10.360; Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.010, Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.050-265; Alaska Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development: Summary of Alaska Child Labor Law

Permissible occupations

Alaska child labor laws identify the follow occupation as permissible occupations for 14 and 15 year olds:

• office and clerical work including operating office machines
• cashiering, selling, modeling, art work, work in advertising departments, window trimming, and comparative shopping
• price marking and tagging by hand or by machine, assembling orders, packing, and shelving
• bagging and carrying out customer orders
• errand and delivery work by foot, bicycle, and public transportation
• cleanup work including using vacuum cleaners and floor waxers
• maintenance of grounds including using power-driven monofilament cutters but not including using power-driven mowers or power-driven cutters with metal blades
• work in connection with cars and trucks if confined to dispensing gasoline, and oil, courtesy service, car cleaning, washing and polishing, and other permitted occupations except work involving
  • using a pit, rack or power-operated lifting apparatus
  • operating a pneumatic tire machine
  • inflating any tire mounted on a rim equipped with a removable retaining ring
  • dispensing propane
• cleaning vegetables and fruits
• wrapping, sealing, labeling, weighing, pricing, and stocking goods

Alaska Admin. Code 8 AAC 05.020