The Department’s Division of Labor Standards has determined that additional guidance in the area of “Employment Certificates” is warranted to ensure that participating employers are in full compliance with State Labor Law.

Additionally, the Division has also determined that further guidance is warranted regarding internship placements in “Prohibited Occupations.”

Please take note of the underlined passages below which reflect the additional guidance not included in the original RFP; or, the Qs and As previously issued by the Department.

Employment Certificates

Programs involving secondary school students and/or those under the age of 18 must comply with New York State law governing employment of minors. This would include the need to ensure minors have applied and received an Employment Certificate (workings papers), which depending on certain working conditions will require sign-off by a parent or legal guardian. New York State Labor law governing the employment of minors also includes provisions for the revocation of an Employment Certificate (working papers) where a student has failed four or more academic courses in one semester.

Employers must keep on file, at the workplace, Employment Certificates for all interns under 18 and return the Certificates to the minors when employment ends.

Information regarding the employment of minors may be obtained by clicking on the following link to access an on-line copy of the guide to "New York State Labor Law Governing the Employment of Minors.”

Prohibitive Occupations

Only schools with approved and appropriate Career and Technical Education programs can place students (16 and 17 years old) in deemed “prohibitive occupations.” NYSDODL will allow the paid employment of minors in select prohibitive occupations, as long as the student-learner is enrolled in a New York State Education Department recognized Cooperative Career & Technical Education Work Experience program.

For 16 and 17 year old students to perform otherwise prohibited occupations, the on-the-job training must be an extension of the classroom learning experience and must be a required component of the total career and technical education program. The purpose of the training must be for the acquisition of job skills. There must be a written agreement between the business, the school, and the student providing that prohibited tasks are incidental to training, are intermittent and for short periods of time, are under the direct and close supervision of a qualified and experienced person, safety instructions are given by the school and by the worksite supervisor, and a schedule of organized and progressive work processes to be performed shall have been prepared.

To be “incidental to training,” the student cannot be the primary performer of the prohibited duties.

To be “intermittent” and “for a short period of time”, otherwise prohibited work must not last for more than one hour at a time, or more than 20% of the student-learner’s work shift.

The requirement for “direct and close supervision” applies only during the periods when the student-learner is actually performing work that would otherwise be prohibited.

Internships involving otherwise prohibited occupations cannot be performed during the summer vacation period unless the classroom learning experience and supervision by the school continues during the same period..

A high school graduate may be employed in an occupation in which he or she has completed training as provided in this section as a student-learner, even though not yet 18 years of age.

The criteria in this section do not apply to work that is not prohibited by the federal and state laws governing the employment of minors under 18, nor to persons who have reached the age of 18 even if they are still in school.

Additionally, the information contained in this Guidance Letter should be incorporated into a grantee’s monitoring instrument to ensure all participating parties are in full compliance with its provisions.