Audit hours against every relevant limit
See this course’s project requirements
Build a work-preparation plan for Taylor's fictional job, then check how it must change when a duty or shift changes.
Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.
What to include
- State age, location, industry, school status, and official verification sources.
- Screen individual duties and exclude unresolved or restricted tasks.
- Audit daily, weekly, and time-of-day limits using the stated example.
- Prepare understandable-training, supervision, reporting, and emergency-information questions.
- Include safety scripts, trusted support routes, and a change-trigger review.
Review and revise
Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.
- Rule scope: age, state, industry, school status, and any unverified exceptions are explicit.
- Task screening: duties are reviewed individually and restricted or unclear tasks are not treated as authorized.
- Hours accuracy: daily, weekly, time-of-day, and state checks use correct arithmetic and the stated workweek.
- Safety planning: training questions, responsible support routes, and changed-condition checks are concrete and avoid hazardous practice.
Want more background?
The idea in everyday life
A schedule must satisfy several conditions at once. School-day length, weekly totals, start and end times, and state rules can all matter. These are ceilings, not recommendations to work as much as possible. You will use current federal and Washington examples with no special exceptions, then consider whether the remaining schedule also leaves room for school and life.
A weekly total can pass while a single day or end time fails.
One step at a time.
Use the sample or information you have permission to use. Keep your work as you go. You can pause between steps.
- 1
Write each proposed shift’s start, end, and paid duration. For the exercise, assume no unpaid breaks and no other jobs. In real planning, verify how all relevant hours and breaks must be counted.
- 2
For standard nonagricultural work at ages 14–15, use the verified federal school-week example: outside school hours, up to three hours on a school day, eighteen weekly, and the applicable time-of-day limits. Then check the state rule; Washington’s standard school-week table lists sixteen weekly for this age group.
- 3
Add the hours and test each condition separately. For ages 16–17, do not infer unlimited state hours from different federal age provisions; Washington’s standard school-week table also has daily and weekly limits.
- 4
Revise any failing fictional shift and recheck the entire schedule. Leave time for travel, study, and rest. Adults should label teen calculations as a learning example and verify the rules applicable to their own work instead of adopting a teen ceiling.
See how it works.
Fictional practice case: Taylor, fifteen, proposes October school-week shifts Tuesday 4–7 p.m., Wednesday 4–7, Thursday 4–7, Friday 4–7, and Saturday 10 a.m.–3 p.m., with no unpaid breaks. The total is 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 5 = 17 hours. The school-day shifts fit the stated three-hour and 7 p.m. federal example, and seventeen is below the federal eighteen-hour weekly ceiling. Washington’s standard sixteen-hour school-week limit still fails. Reducing Saturday to 10 a.m.–2 p.m. makes sixteen hours, but Taylor must still verify other requirements and decide whether the schedule is sustainable.
Did you cover these?
- Calculate every shift and weekly total.
- Check daily and end-time conditions separately.
- Apply the stated state limit and preserve verification notes.
What to finish
An annotated schedule showing daily, weekly, time-of-day, and state checks.
Watch for this
Checking only the weekly total or treating a legal maximum as a healthy target.
How can I tell I understand it?
You can identify which specific rule fails and revise the schedule without assuming complete approval.
Quick knowledge check
Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.
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Sources and further reading
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Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10
Read scope, permitted/prohibited nonagricultural tasks, section 570.35 hours, and higher-state-standard provisions. The page was current through 2026-09-08. Exceptions, agriculture, and specialized work are not reduced to one universal rule.
Access: The cited eCFR provision is publicly readable without an account. It is a current legal-reference resource, not an official legal edition or a personal eligibility determination.
Reuse: This specific eCFR — 29 CFR Part 570, child labor regulations resource supports the cited lessons. Life Starter’s scenarios, calculations, scripts, and questions are original; no source worksheet, logo, or endorsement is reused. Free reading is not a general reuse license.
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10
Opened the current nonagricultural tables for ages 14–15 and 16–17, school weeks, and exceptions. Washington is a named example of state limits; learners must verify their own state, permits, and exceptions.
Access: Washington’s youth-work-hours guidance is public and free. It is used as a named state example; no permit application or personal information is required.
Reuse: This specific Washington Labor & Industries — Youth hours of work resource supports the cited lessons. Life Starter’s scenarios, calculations, scripts, and questions are original; no source worksheet, logo, or endorsement is reused. Free reading is not a general reuse license.
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10
Read scheduling and task-prioritization teaching. Used for original school/work capacity checks; it is not a child-labor legal source.
Access: This specific OpenStax chapter is freely readable in a browser without an account. All required exercises are supplied here; no enrollment, certificate purchase, or university affiliation is needed.
Reuse: Original Life Starter examples, questions, and lesson sequence are informed by this OpenStax chapter. No source exercises, illustrations, quizzes, or logos are reproduced; consult the source’s own license for separate reuse.
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