Hi,

I have a question concerning child labor laws.

Basically it's this:

How old does my son need to be to be able to operate a...

Drill Press
Milling machine
Metal Lathe
Band saw

...in a working environment... 16 or 18?

(He turns 16 next week and REALLY wants to work with me)


I tried looking for the answer myself, but I think the official non-layman terms the state documents uses are too much for me.

So, if anybody knows, please post.

Thanks

Dave

Interesting that you ask that question. If you have kids under 16 on a farm or ranch you might want to check this out. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/...-21924.pdf

To answer your question, I would recommend calling your liability insurance agent and see what they say. My guess is they will say they must be 18 before they are covered.

Here is the link to the Montana Code Annotated section on child labor. You should be able to find the answer here.

http://data.opi.mt.gov/bi...c/41_2.htm

I am in no way offering legal advise, as you should do your own research. Here is a situtation that I had to deal with.

Working for a parent is different than just hiring a kid off the street. As a gov't employee working around construction contractors, I have to check the contractor's payrolls and labor requirements. This exact senario come up. A subcontractor's son, under 18, was working for him around cranes, rollers, and other various heavy equipment. I had to make a few calls to find out the legalities of this, and as long as he was the son of the subcontractor, he could work for him.

If you are Newt, child labor laws are stupid.

"Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says child labor laws are "stupid." But wait, there's more. He suggests that schools "get rid of unionized janitors" and hire low-income kids to clean the schools. He even says that age nine is the right time to get a job."