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Work · Guided lesson

Identify which youth rules need checking

About 28 minutes · 8 reading + 20 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
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.
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Before you begin

The idea in everyday life

Rules for teenage work can differ by age, state, task, industry, and school calendar. A job title or a parent’s permission does not answer every question. This course focuses on ordinary U.S. nonagricultural work for ages 14–17 and teaches verification. Adults can practice the same planning method while keeping youth-specific limits separate from their own requirements.

The idea

Age is only one part of the rule’s scope.

Try it

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. 1

    Create a scope card naming the fictional worker’s age, work state, employer type, nonagricultural setting, and whether school is in session. Use the supplied case rather than any real identity document.

  2. 2

    Read the federal source’s age and task scope, then the named state example. Record both sources and their review dates. State or local standards and permits may add conditions; one federal maximum is not a universal permission.

  3. 3

    Mark agriculture, entertainment, family-business exceptions, special work-study arrangements, and uncertain classification as questions requiring the responsible labor agency’s current guidance. Do not guess an exception from a casual label such as helper or volunteer.

  4. 4

    Write a verification checklist for the actual location: permitted tasks, hours, time of day, required permits or authorizations, supervision, and school impact. A learner aged eighteen or older can use an adult fictional case for safety planning and annotate that the teen legal limits are being studied rather than applied.

Example

See how it works.

Fictional practice case: Taylor is fifteen and considering a bookstore role in Washington during an October school week. The scope card says nonagricultural retail, standard school-week conditions, no special exception assumed. Taylor compares the federal baseline with Washington’s current table instead of using a summer schedule found in an old message. A separate offer to work on a farm is marked outside this course’s rule example because agricultural standards differ. An adult learner can audit Taylor’s case and then create a separate adult safety card. No one treats a completed course, adult supervision, or family permission as a work permit.

Check your work

Did you cover these?

  • Name age, state, work type, and school-week status.
  • Record both federal and state verification routes.
  • Flag special industries and exceptions instead of guessing.
Your work

What to finish

A youth-work scope card and current-local-rule verification checklist.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Applying one age limit or federal hour maximum to every job, state, and exception.

How can I tell I understand it?

The card makes the rule’s relevant conditions explicit.

Try 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.

Not yet passed

You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.

1A fifteen-year-old compares a retail job with a farm job. What should the learner do?
2A seventeen-year-old’s employer says adults supervise, so every task is allowed. What is the sound response?
3Which scope card is complete enough to start an hours check?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
1
Finish this lesson

Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.

Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

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Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

eCFR — 29 CFR Part 570, child labor regulations
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.

Washington Labor & Industries — Youth hours of work
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.

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