Although I myself am not in the habit of hiring below the age of 16...I usually have one or two staff that are 15. I do this, because it is a great age to introduce newcomers to the buisness, get aquanted with their parents, and start good work habits. It is sometimes inconvienent I must admit to let someone go early in the night.....but I try to use them at times when maybe I just need an extra for a few hours, so it doesn't present a huge burden for the rest of the staff when they leave.
A quick tip for all of you out there that need to be sure your staff punches out at the right time.....$4.99 at brooks, a cheap alarm clock...set it and forget it. Give yourself a 5 minute warning to the 9 o'clock rule, make sure it reflects the same time you have on your time clock system.....and it should help you stay in compliance.
The state also gives some room for error, when they see that you are a responsible employer, and take good measure to stay compliant. If your faced with an infraction, show the the inspector a posting on the wall that has signatures from all your staff that they understand the child labor law...show them the alarm clock with the 5 minute head start....and hey, if you notice once in a while that you did infact go over your time....make a note of it in the employee file, or directly on the time card, of why. Maybe the alarm clock didn't get reset after a power failure...or the staff member left on time, but forgot to punch out....Or the staff member was doing an outside chore, or was involved with changing out of uniform ect.....
while these may all be excuses, at least you took the time to note them, and if you took the time to note them, the state will also believe that you took action to make sure it didn't happen again in that senario.
While it may not buy you a get out of jail free card....it may be just enough to show your intent to be a responsible employer, and that you "want" to follow the law....verses the common argument which is "it's to hard" or "inconvienent" to follow the law.
