Labor Department webinar helps Big Lots prepare teen summer hires

Big Lots supervisors who plan to lean on teens for summer shifts need to map duties and schedules before the first hire starts. The Labor Department’s May webinar series on youth employment put federal hour limits, job restrictions and hazardous-work rules front and center for managers who may be filling cash wrap, cart retrieval, seasonal reset and basic backroom roles with first-time workers.

The free sessions were aimed at employers, young workers, parents, school counselors and HR specialists, and the department said it would pair the webinars with compliance tools and child labor best practices. It also pointed employers to YouthRules and state-law resources, a reminder that state child labor protections can be stricter than federal law.

Under federal law, minors under 14 generally cannot work in nonagricultural jobs. Workers under 16 face limits on both hours and the kinds of tasks they can perform, and minors under 18 are barred from hazardous occupations. The department’s child labor guidance and Child Labor Bulletin 101 spell out which jobs and tasks are off-limits, information that matters in retail stores where teens may be asked to stock shelves, handle registers or help on the sales floor.

The enforcement backdrop was not light. In fiscal year 2025, the Labor Department said it investigated 976 child labor cases involving 5,272 children and assessed more than $37.2 million in civil money penalties. That kind of number makes a strong case for supervisors to check age rules before posting schedules, assigning overtime or moving young workers into tasks that look routine but may run afoul of federal limits.

The timing fits the labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the youth labor force grew by 1.9 million, or 8.9%, from April to July 2025, reaching 23.7 million. It also said 21.1 million youth ages 16 to 24 were employed in July 2025, with retail trade employing 17% of employed youth. For a chain like Big Lots, which says it is hiring and lists store locations nationwide, the summer push is both a staffing opportunity and a compliance test. Big Lots’ store locator showed 219 store locations on its site, underscoring how widely these rules can reach across the chain’s footprint.