COOPERATIVE EDUCATION STUDENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA
 
Hours of work allowed:
 
Here is a copy of the letter I use to explain to employers about the 'exception' for students on co-op to the state laws on the number of hours a 16 or 17 year old student can work. This information is a summary of Kay Clarke, Director of the Bureau of Labor Standards, PA Dept. Of Labor and Industry ‘Interpretation of Section 4 of the Child Labor Law – Operational Directive #5’, 6/73).  Feel free to modify to your own needs.
 

RE: Cooperative Education Program

Dear

Thank you for partnering with the Northern Tier Career Center in providing an educational experience for our students. We deeply appreciate the commitment you are making to the education of students in the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania.

Employer information about Capstone Cooperative Education (Co-op).

Capstone Cooperative Education is an educational, credit bearing, program of study approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and recognized by Pennsylvania Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Law Compliance and the US Department of Labor. The purpose of the Capstone Co-op program is to provide students training in a skill trade area with the opportunity to apply classroom learning in a real world. Cooperative Education students are exempted from many Pennsylvania child labor laws (see student learner exemptions, Bureau of Labor Law Compliance Informational Handbook and Abstract of the Pennsylvania Child Labor Law (mandatory employer posting) for specific exemptions; please note that most exemptions deal with ‘hazardous occupations’.

Additionally, the Bureau of Labor Law Compliance has stated the following:

Students enrolled in a state approved Capstone Cooperative Education are granted additional hours of employment whereby they can work up to forty hour week days (M-F), however the total numbers hours still can not exceed forty-four hours in an entire week.  Please note the following restrictions:

1.  Can not exceed eight (8) hours in any one day.
2.  Students must go directly from school to work.
3.  Applies only to 16 and 17 year old students.

(Source: Kay Clarke, Director of the Bureau of Labor Standards, PA Dept. of Labor and Industry ‘Interpretation of Section 4 of the Child Labor Law – Operational Directive #5’, 6/73)

Finally, students employed through a cooperative education program are not entitled to unemployment compensation, nor does the employer have to pay into the unemployment compensation fund for a student.  (Source: 43 P.S. Section 753 (I) (4) (10) (c) PA Unemployment Compensation Law)

Eric Butler, Cooperative Education Coordinator
ebutler@ntccschool.org