Labor Law Essentials for Student Work Experiences

This guide is designed to help educators, families, and community partners understand the essential labor laws and best practices related to youth employment and community-based vocational training. It provides a clear summary of federal and state regulations that protect young workers, especially those with disabilities, and outlines how schools can structure meaningful, non-paid work experiences as part of a student’s transition plan. 

You’ll find definitions for key terms, eligibility guidelines, and forms to ensure that student training opportunities align with labor laws while also supporting each learner’s growth. Whether you are planning job shadowing, vocational assessments, or longer-term training placements, this document will help you do so safely, legally, and with the student’s success in mind. 

Let’s work together to prepare every student for a bright future through safe, supported, and legally compliant work-based learning opportunities. 

The following information has been adapted and summarized from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Labor Standards and Statistics. (2025, May 30). INFO #22: Employment of minors in Colorado. https://cdle.colorado.gov/youth-law. 

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Summarized Labor Laws for Youth Workers 

Allowed Job Duties for Youth Ages 14 and Older: 

• Office and clerical work, including operating office equipment  
• Errand and delivery work by foot, bicycle, and public transport  
• Janitorial and custodial work, including the operation of vacuum cleaners and floor waxers  
• Cooking with electric or gas grills, or deep fryers with automatically raising/lowering baskets  
• Kitchen and other food or beverage preparation or service work (including operating devices); cleaning kitchen equipment; handling oil up to 100°F; and occasionally and briefly entering freezers to restock or prepare food  
• Cleaning vegetables and fruits, wrapping, sealing, labeling, weighing, pricing, and stocking items, including vegetables, fruits, and meats, in areas physically separate from a freezer or meat cooler  
• Loading/unloading on motor vehicles the following items that the minor will use at work: light, non-power-driven hand tools; personal protective gear; or other personal items  
• Work in gasoline service establishments, including dispensing gasoline, oil, and other consumer items; courtesy service car cleaning, washing, and polishing  
• Work in stores: cashiering, selling, modeling, artwork, advertising work, window trimming, comparative shopping  
• Bagging and carrying out customer orders; price marking or tagging; assembling orders; packing and shelving  
• At 15, lifeguarding at pools or water parks, but not natural water bodies (river, lake, etc.) until age 16  
• Intellectual or artistically creative work (ex: programming, music, visual arts, teaching/tutoring, peer counseling)  

Under Colorado law, in addition to the above:  

• Public messenger service work  
• Warehousing, storage, and other vehicle loading/unloading  
• Other retail store, retail food service, or restaurant work  
• Hotel, motel, or other public accommodations work, except not operating power food slicers and grinders  
• Parks or recreation work  
• Non-hazardous manufacturing, construction, or repair work  
• In gasoline service: changing tires; supervised use of hoists, except not inflating or changing tires mounted on rims with removable retaining rings  
• Operating automatic enclosed freight or passenger elevators  

Under federal law, in addition to the above:  

• Other cleanup work, and maintenance of grounds  
• Employment at inside and outside places where machinery processes wood products, for certain school-exempt minors meeting federal requirements  
• Certain work riding inside passenger compartments of motor vehicles  
• Non-hazardous agricultural work (Hazardous work in agriculture, and available exemptions, are detailed in Child Labor Bulletin 102) 

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Hazardous Occupations Prohibited for Youth Workers 

For Minors Under Age 16 

• Construction, manufacturing, mining, processing, or boiler/engine room work  
• Work using power-driven machinery or a hoisting apparatus  
• Other baking or cooking, or food service work that is either:  
• In freezers, in meat coolers, or otherwise preparing meat for sale  
• Using power food slicers, grinders, or equipment such as rotisseries, broilers, or fryolators  
• The following motor vehicle work:  
• Operating, riding, or serving as a helper on, motor vehicles  
• Loading or unloading items on motor vehicles, rail cars, or conveyors  
• Car or truck work using pits, racks, or a lifting apparatus, or inflating or changing tires mounted on rims with removable retaining rings  
• Transportation of persons or property  
• Warehousing and storage  
• Work on a ladder, scaffold, or similar item, or a windowsill washing windows  
• Youth peddling with offsite sales (customer home/office, public places, etc.)  
• Catching and cooping poultry in preparation for transport or for market  
• Communications and public utilities  
• Public messenger service work 

For All Minors 

• Manufacturing, transporting, or storing explosives 
• Manufacturing brick, clay construction, or silica refractory products 
• Mining (including coal), logging, oil drilling, quarrying, wrecking, or demolition 
• Any work with exposure to radioactive substances or ionizing radiation 
• Driving or working as an outside helper on a motor vehicle on public roads, or at a mine, logging, or excavation site, except limited public road driving at age 17 
• Operating a power-driven bakery or hoisting machine, including a forklift 
• Forest fire fighting/prevention, forestry, sawmill/timber tract 
• Roofing or excavation 
• Slaughter of livestock, and rendering and packaging of meat  
• Operating various power-driven machines 
• Operating high-pressure/temperature boilers, automatic pin-setters, or power-driven machines that the Division deems hazardous  
• Other work with risk of falling from 10 feet or more (20 feet in agriculture) 

In Addition 

• Minors of any age are prohibited from working with age-restricted substances:  
• Selling, dispensing, or serving alcoholic beverages,  
• Working in the marijuana industry.  
• Colorado and federal law prohibit “hazardous” work for minors16 except for: 
• A qualifying apprenticeship or educational program, or  
• if granted an exemption from work prohibited as hazardous by only Colorado law. 
• Colorado is an "Employment at Will" state, which means an employer or employee, can terminate an employment relationship at any time with or without cause and with or without notice and with no penalty in most cases.  

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Youth Employment Limits: Time, Hours, and School-Day Guidelines 

Work Hour Limits for Minors 

To protect student well-being and prioritize education, there are strict limits on how many hours minors can work: 

• All Minors (Any Age): 
• Can work up to 8 hours a day and no more than 40 hours a week. 
• Minors Under Age 16: 
• No work between 7:00 PM and 7:00 AM,  
• except from June 1 to Labor Day, when evening work is allowed until 9:00 PM. 
• On school days: 
• Cannot work during school hours (unless special approval is granted). 
• Can work up to 3 hours after school, including Fridays. 
• During school weeks (any week with school days): 
• Can work a maximum of 18 hours total. 

Working During School Hours – What You Need to Know 

Students are generally not allowed to work during school hours unless special conditions are met: 

• Under federal law, a student may only work during school hours if they are part of a U.S. Department of Labor-approved program like work experience, career exploration, or work-study. This also requires agreement from both the school and the parent. 

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For more information see the U.S. Department of Labor’s, YouthRules: Resources on Young Worker’s Rights and Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment. 

For detailed information see Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s, Employment of Minors in Colorado INFO Sheet. 

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Labor Standards Terminology 

Apprenticeship (Registered): Apprenticeships are relationships between an employer and an employee during which the worker, or apprentice, learns an occupation in a structured program sponsored jointly by employers and labor unions or employee associations. Registered apprenticeship describes those programs registered with the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training (BAT), U. S. Department of Labor, or one of the State Apprenticeship Agencies or Councils approved by BAT. 

Career Development: Career Development is the process through which an individual comes to understand his or her place in the world of work. Students develop and identify their careers through a continuum of career awareness, career exploration, and work exposure activities that help them to discern their own career path. 

Career Awareness: Career awareness activities typically begin at the elementary level and are designed to make students aware of the broad range of careers and/or occupations in the world of work, including options that may not be traditional for their gender, race or ethnicity. 

Career awareness activities range from limited exposure to the world of work through occasional field trips and classroom speakers, to comprehensive exposure involving curriculum redesign and integration of career concepts with academic content at the middle school level. 

Career Exploration: Career exploration is designed to provide some in-depth exposure to career options for students. Activities may include the study of career opportunities in particular fields to identify potential careers, job shadows, interviews with persons currently working in the field, or review of local labor market information. Classroom learning could be connected to exploration and community activities. 

Cooperative Education: Cooperative education is a structured method of instruction whereby students alternate or coordinate their high school or postsecondary studies with a job in a field related to their academic or occupational objectives. Students and participating businesses develop written training and evaluation plans to guide instruction, and students receive course credit for both their classroom and work experiences. 

Dual Enrollment: Dual enrollment is a program of study allowing high school students to simultaneously earn credits toward a high school diploma and a postsecondary degree or certificate. Written agreements formalize programs of study, the transfer of academic and vocational credits among institutions, and the role of secondary and postsecondary instructors. 

Internships: Internships are situations where students work for an employer for a specified period of time to learn about a particular industry or occupation. Workplace activities may include special projects, a sample of tasks from different jobs, or tasks from a single occupation. These may or may not include financial compensation. 

Job Shadowing: Job shadowing is a typical part of career exploration activities in late, middle and early high school. A student follows an employee at a firm for one or more days to learn about a particular occupation or industry. 

Learning Objectives, Performance Measures & Performance Standards: These components make up the three-part process of establishing a performance measurement system that should be defined when students participate in a community activity or work-based learning experience. The three terms are defined as follows: 

1. Learning Objectives – Summarize the knowledge, skills, and abilities that students will be expected to achieve. A learning objective answers the question, “What do we want students to know, understand, or be able to do?” 
2. Performance Measures – Describe how attainment of the learning objectives will be measured or assessed. 
3. Performance Standards – Set the level of knowledge or skill mastery that students will be expected to attain. 

Occupational Cluster: An occupational cluster is a grouping of occupations from one or more industries that share common skill requirements. Occupational clusters form the basis for developing national skill standards. 

On-the-Job Training (OJT): On-the-job training is hands-on training in specific occupational skills that students receive as part of their work- place experiences. 

Portfolio: A portfolio is a collection of work that documents a student’s educational performance over time. While there is no standard format that a portfolio must take, it typically includes a range of materials intended to: organize and manage a variety of pertinent information about the student; demonstrate the student’s achievement; assist the student in recognizing academic growth; provide students with a mechanism to take greater responsibility for their own learning and development. 

Work-Based Learning: Work-based learning experiences are activities at the high school level that involve actual work experience or connect classroom learning to work. Levels of intensity range from exposure to work-based learning that occurs in traditional vocational programs to full integration of academic and vocational-occupational curriculum with work site experience. 

Youth Apprenticeship: Youth apprenticeship is typically a multi-year program that combines school and work-based learning in a specific occupational area and is designed to lead directly into either a related postsecondary program, entry-level job, or registered apprenticeship program. Youth apprenticeships may or may not include financial compensation. 

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