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Hiring a 17 year Old Paid Intern
Hello to all,
I am checking to see if anyone has any knowledge about paperwork for bringing on a 17 year old to help us with editing and also train them more in After Effects. We originally wanted to just have an intern (non paid), but then we felt guilty for not paying someone for their work. We also would love to have them stay throughout the year, so we thought that getting them started with something would be better than nothing. So we have called it a “Paid Internship” due to the person having book knowledge of FCP but no real experience (But the internship is NOT through their school). And also that teaching and training will be a huge part of this position. So the student would be getting paid to get trained, and we feel good about that.
But we are not knowledgeable on any of this since we have been a one man show with my wife helping out on shoots. And also we don’t fully know the work load we’ll have in a few months down the line so we were hoping to have this be a freelance/subcontract position. Again, I must emphasis that you and wanted to pay them throughout training. I just don’t know how to set this up.
So I guess my questions are…
-Is there a place to get parent permission slips online?
-Is it legal to hire a minor as a subcontractor/freelance? If of course they tell us when they can work, not us schedule them to come to work.
-If hiring them as contract/freelance is not legal, then where would I start in regards to setting up actual payroll? This would be our single employee and it wouldn’t add up to much, so I don’t know if there is a minimum fee for things like this.
-Any other concerns that I don’t even know about.
I guess my reasons for this is that yes our company is growing slightly and I would love to have a little help getting rough cuts going. But also, my main thing is that I realize that for the right student this could set them up with real experience before they ever go to college. And I didn’t get started until I was 24 years old, so I can only imagine how much an extra 7 years of experience would do for these kids.
Anyway thanks for your help! 🙂
-Beau Brotherton-
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3 Replies
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If you do not have a payroll, then you need to make sure your paid employee knows that he or she is obligated to file quarterly taxes, which could be a burden for a 17 year old with no work experience.
As a business owner, you are obligated to file a W9 for any contractor who is not setup for billing.
You might consult your accountant for their opinion as related to your state’s labor laws.
Mike Cohen
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Also check over the government’s FLSA website for rules on overtime and pay for minors.
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Your state most likely has a 15 year old hiring age. Check. Outside of that, you are golden. No need for a parental slip or anythging like that.
Never feel guilty about giving youngans opportunity, man. They require it. Those with initiative will always appriciate it.
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