Youth employment tracking to fall on employer, not schools starting July 1

A new law and major changes with the youth employment process are coming soon to Indiana. 

“We’ll be replacing the work permit process that has been in place for so many years, for all minors that’s under the age of 18,” director of the Bureau of Youth Employment with the Indiana Department of Labor Michael Myers said. 

Instead, there will be a new Youth Employment System, or YES, beginning July 1. After years, the responsibility is shifting from schools onto the employer, which means schools will no longer issue work permits or track and report employment information. 

An employer with 5+ minors (under age 18) will be required to use the new system to track employees. 

Employers will need to include corporate and facility location, along with employee information, such as name and age. If at any point the employee is terminated, the employer must remove the minor from the system. 

If an employer does not comply, penalties could range up to $400 per infraction. 

Myers said it is hard to keep jobs filled as it is, especially with minors, which is they want the process to be quick and efficient. 

“All can simply be done on their cellphone at work, rather than having to send the minor in to go get a work permit and wait a day, or two, or three for them to come back with that work permit before they can even have them complete a W-4 form,” Myers said. “They can make the decision to hire and they can register in less than two minutes and have that employee on the line, working, right then and there.” 

Myers said the whole reason the process used to fall on schools was to protect students’ education and they found that has been accomplished over the years. 

“And right now there’s very few issues in that area and so no need to get the schools involved anymore,” Myers said. 

The new system is already live, so Hoosier employers do not have to wait to get started. Myers suggested employers get adjust to the new process as soon as possible. The new law goes into effect July 1.