Education Law § 3216 · Part 1. Compulsory Education
Employment certificates
Text — Law content up to date as of October 2, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
* § 3216. Employment certificates. 1. A student non-factory employment certificate may be issued to a minor fourteen or fifteen years of age who is attending day school. The certificate shall be valid for work in a trade, business or service, but shall not be valid for work in or in connection with a factory except as provided in subdivision four of section one hundred thirty-one of the labor law.
2. A student general employment certificate may be issued to a minor sixteen or seventeen years of age who is attending day school. It shall be valid for work in or in connection with a factory or any other trade, business or service.
3. A full-time employment certificate may be issued to a minor sixteen or seventeen years of age who is not attending day school or who declares his intention to leave day school for full-time employment. It shall be valid for work in or in connection with a factory or any other trade, business or service. A full-time employment certificate also may be issued to a minor who is a graduate of a four-year high school, but if such minor is under sixteen years of age the certificate shall not be valid for work in or in connection with a factory except as provided in subdivision four of section one hundred and thirty-one of the labor law.
4. A limited employment certificate may be issued as provided in subdivision two of section thirty-two hundred twenty of this article.
5. A special employment certificate may be issued as provided in section thirty-two hundred twenty-five of this article.
6. An employment certificate shall be valid not only for the initial employment but also for subsequent employments in work permitted by the particular type of certificate.
7. An employment certificate shall expire two years from the date of its issuance, except as otherwise provided in this article. No employment certificate shall be valid for employment in violation of any provision of the labor law or rules issued thereunder.
8. An employment certificate shall be kept on file at the place of the minor's employment and shall be returned to the minor when the employment terminates.
* NB Effective until May 9, 2027
* § 3216. Employment certificates. 1. A student non-factory employment certificate may be issued to a minor fourteen or fifteen years of age who is attending day school. The certificate shall be valid for work in a trade, business or service, but shall not be valid for work in or in connection with a factory except as provided in subdivision four of section one hundred thirty-one of the labor law.
2. A student general employment certificate may be issued to a minor sixteen or seventeen years of age who is attending day school. It shall be valid for work in or in connection with a factory or any other trade, business or service.
3. A full-time employment certificate may be issued to a minor sixteen or seventeen years of age who is not attending day school or who declares their intention to leave day school for full-time employment. It shall be valid for work in or in connection with a factory or any other trade, business or service. A full-time employment certificate also may be issued to a minor who is a graduate of a four-year high school, but if such minor is under sixteen years of age the certificate shall not be valid for work in or in connection with a factory except as provided in subdivision four of section one hundred and thirty-one of the labor law.
4. An employment certificate shall be valid not only for the initial employment but also for subsequent employments in work permitted by the particular type of certificate, provided that the minor has updated their electronic registration to reflect the subsequent employer as required by section one hundred thirty-five of the labor law.
5. An employment certificate shall expire two years from the date of its issuance, except as otherwise provided in this article. No employment certificate shall be valid for employment in violation of any provision of the labor law or rules issued thereunder.
6. An employment certificate shall be kept on file at the place of the minor's employment or be readily accessible to any person authorized by law to examine such document in accordance with the recordkeeping requirements set forth in section one hundred thirty-five of the labor law.
* NB Effective May 9, 2027
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 2, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/EDN3216
- Text hash
- sha256 0dd4b7101da82ae51a21c5803db968db4b8c6674672dabca7a029ad93ac91eaf
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
- The Senate's note "Effective May 9, 2027": the later text is printed beside the text in force ("Effective until").
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.