New Youth-Employment Law Goes Fully Into Effect Today

Work permits go away July 1, employers face penalties if not using YES system

(File Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS (June 30, 2021) – Enrolled Senate Act 409, which does away with minor-employee work permits and requires employers who employ five or more minors under age 18 to begin registering those employees in the Indiana Department of Labor’s new Youth Employment System, or YES, goes fully into effect tomorrow.

The system went live on June 1, which was earlier than originally anticipated, to give employers who meet the new law’s criteria time to set up their accounts and begin using the system prior to July 1. To date, more than 5,000 employers across Indiana have signed up, and have registered over 33,000 minor employees.  

The law change occurred during Indiana’s 2020 legislative session, and most changes went into effect in 2020, with the exception of the work permit elimination and new registration system. Those were delayed to give schools, the Bureau of Youth Employment and employers time to adequately prepare for the change.

“We’ve been communicating about this final and biggest change to employers since early May with a broad outreach effort, and we worked diligently to take the system live on June 1 – which was an entire month earlier than expected,” said Michael Myers, director of the Indiana Department of Labor’s Bureau of Youth Employment. “Employers are definitely hearing about it, and have been responding with questions and registering in YES to test drive the system before the law goes fully into effect. So we’ve been off to a good start.”

But penalties begin going into effect tomorrow, and employers who are not compliant could face penalties of up to $400 per infraction, per minor

The change in law, which can be found in Indiana Code 22-2-18.1-26, is considered a “modernization” of the former process, which put an added responsibility on schools to issue work permits. With the final pieces of SEA 409 going into effect, work permits are eliminated completely, and the responsibility of tracking and reporting minor employment in Indiana shifts directly to employers.

“This will streamline the hiring process for employers and minors,” said Myers. “After an employer has set up the business profile, they only need to input the minor’s name, age and hire date. Registering minors only takes about two minutes, and employers can access the registration app via a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.” said Myers.

Upon termination of employment, the employer must remove the minor’s information from the YES active-employee registry. The employer will have three business days to complete each action.

Schools will continue to have the opportunity to monitor which employers are hiring minor employees in their communities via YES, and can request public information in the system specific to their students. This will enable schools to continue to collaborate with employers to balance a student’s employment and academic performance throughout the school year.

The new YES requirement will not impact the state’s work-hour requirement for minors, and all employers must still comply with the Teen Work Hour Restrictions and Prohibited and Hazardous Occupation restrictions for minors.

For more information about the new state requirements and the YES registry, click here.