Minors under 18 years of age must obtain a work permit or a written agreement or contract entered into between the employer and the governing school district, public school academy, or nonpublic before starting work. Work permits can be obtained from the issuing school officer (the chief administrator of a school district, intermediate school district, etc.) the minor attends or the school district where the minor will be employed. If the minor changes jobs, a new work permit is required for the new employer. A work permit may be revoked for poor academic performance. A work permit is required even if the minor is home/cyber/virtual/online schooled, does not attend school, or out-of-state resident.

Work permits are no longer available for bulk purchase from Michigan Center for Career & Technical Education; work permits are available for printing or download below.  Note: CA-6 work permits must be printed, front and back, on pink paper and CA-7 work permits must be printed, front and back, on yellow paper to be valid.

Youth Employment Forms Packet
Youth Employment Standards Rules
Standards for Issuance of Work Permits
Standards for Issuance of Work Permits Checklist
Legislative link to the Youth Employment Standards Act 90
CA-6 Work Permit (must be printed pink and front to back)
CA-7 Work Permit (must be printed yellow and front to back)

• homeschool
• cyber school
• virtual school
• online school,
• obtaining G.E.D.
• out-of-state resident
• not attending school

Minors under the age of 18 are required to have a work permit prior to starting work.

If a minor comes from another state to work in Michigan, the minor should bring an official birth certificate and an unofficial transcript from the previous school attended which includes the school’s complete name, address, city, state, zip code, county and telephone number.

The minor first must go in person to a school district, intermediate school district, public school academy or nonpublic school official designated as an issuing officer and provide one of the following acceptable forms of evidence of age:

Minors seeking employment who are homeschooled shall be issued a work permit by the issuing officer of the school district, intermediate school district, public school academy, or nonpublic school in which the minor’s residence or prospective employer is located.  The minor must present a signed, written statement from the parent or guardian, as the instructor of record, indicating how many hours per week the student is being homeschooled.  The issuing officer will review the parent/guardian statement and issue the work permit with those hours reflected.  The issuing officer will attach the parent/guardian statement to the work permit and keep a copy of the statement with their copy of the work permit filed at the school.

• A certified copy of birth record or other proof of age showing the place and date of birth
• A certified copy of valid operator’s license issued by this state showing date of birth
• The school record or the school census record
• The sworn statement of minor’s parent/guardian and statement from physician

The minor and parent/guardian must complete Section I of the work permit in its entirety (all areas must be completed).

The minor then takes the work permit to the employer, after completing Section I, and the employer must complete Section II of the work permit, in its entirety (all areas must be completed including listing all work the minor will be performing, equipment and/or tools minor will use, starting and ending hours to be worked, number of days per week to be worked and number of hours per days to be worked, etc).

The minor must take the work permit, after the employer has completed Section II, in person to a school district, intermediate school district, public school academy or nonpublic school official designated issuing officer for review and to complete section III.

The issuing officer must copy the work permit and place the work permit in the minor’s permanent school file and return the original work permit to the minor.