North Carolina Rules on Employing Minors

No youth in North Carolina who is under 18 may be employed by any employer in any occupation without a youth employment certificate unless specifically exempted. Certificates are issued by county directors of social services, subject to review by the department of labor. The commissioner of labor may require, by regulation, that the DOL issue certificates for occupations with unusual or unique characteristics.

The employer's copy of the youth employment certificate must be given to the employer by the youth on the first day of employment. No employer may employ a youth until the employer has received its copy of the certificate. The employer must maintain the certificate on record where it is readily accessible to any person authorized to inspect or investigate youth employment. The employer must maintain the certificate on record as long as it employs the youth and for two years after the employment terminates.

Workers under 18 years of age employed by their parent, guardian, or other person standing in loco parentis are generally exempt from the provisions of North Carolina's child labor laws.

Effective for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2004, contracts with minors and third parties for artistic or creative services, contract agreements to purchase, secure, sell, lease, license or otherwise dispose of a literary, musical, or dramatic property, or use of a person's likeness, voice recording, performance, or story based on their life for use in the entertainment field, a contract to participate or play in a sport, or a contract to work as an extra, background performer or similar work through an agency for a fee, such as a casting agency, require a parent or guardian to provide a copy of the child's birth certificate indicating the child's minority status to the other parties in the contract, provide for a percentage of the child's earnings to be set aside in a trust, and must provide that the contract cannot be disaffirmed where the contract was approved in the superior court of the county where the minor resides or is employed.