Hi All,
Here at Phoenix Bikes in Arlington, VA, we run paid internship programs in our bike shop for high school students. One internship program focuses on “business” skills including the sale of used bikes and mechanics work on bikes; the other internship is focused on having interns teach mechanics skills to other students. We’ve only been employing 16+ students for both.
But for the teaching internship, we have more 9th and 10th graders interested than older high schoolers, so we want to revisit whether we can employ younger students. Virginia's teen employment site is super specific about which jobs and employment locations are allowed for 14-15 year olds, whereas rules around job duties for 16+ year olds are much more relaxed.
If you are a Virginia-based shop that has employed students younger than 16, what duties did you allow the younger students to do and what labor laws/guidance were you following? Just would love to know if others have gone down this path and made it work.
Thanks,
Emily
Sent from my iPhone