(a) 16-year minimum age. The Act, in section 3(l), sets a general 16-year minimum age, which applies to all employment subject to its child labor provisions, with certain exceptions not applicable here.
(b) 18-year minimum age. The Act, in section 3(l), also sets an 18-year minimum age with respect to employment in any occupation found and declared by the Secretary of Labor to be particularly hazardous for the employment of minors of such age or detrimental to their health or well-being.
(c) All work in fire suppression is deemed hazardous for the employment of individuals under 18 years of age. All work in fire protection and prevention is particularly hazardous for the employment of individuals between 16 and 18 years of age, except the following:
(1) Work in offices or in repair or maintenance shops without exposure to hazardous materials;
(2) Work in the construction, operation, repair, or maintenance of living and administrative quarters in firefighting camps without exposure to hazardous materials;
(3) Work in forest protection, such as clearing fire trails or roads, piling and burning slash, maintaining firefighting equipment, or acting as fire lookout or fire patrolman away from the actual logging operations, provided that this provision shall not apply to the felling or bucking of timber, the collecting or transporting of logs, the operation of power-driven machinery, the handling or use of explosives, and work on trestles;
(4) Work in the clean-up service outside of a structure after a fire has been declared by the fire official in charge to be under control; and
(5) Work assisting in the administration of first aid.
[62 FR 67251, Dec. 23, 1997, as amended at 72 FR 52773, Sept. 17, 2007]
(a) Agencies must remain cognizant of and abide by regulations and orders published in part 570 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations, by the Secretary of Labor regarding the employment of individuals under the age of 18 years. These regulations and orders govern the minimum age at which persons under the age of 18 years may be employed and the occupations in which they may be employed. Persons under the age of 18 years must not be employed in occupations or engage in work deemed hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.
(b) OPM will decide complaints concerning the employment of persons under the age of 18 years. Complaints must be filed following the procedures set forth in subpart G of this part.