Child Labor Laws And Our Booster Club

[Tostig]

Hey Harvey...thanks for volunteering your time to answer questions about non-profit law!!!  So I was wondering, my school's Booster Club is considering purchasing a hot dog cart to post in town during the summer.  We live in a very rural mountain area where local businesses rely heavily on tourism.  We thought setting up a hot dog cart to snag all the roving tourists with intentions of continued business(not just a one-time fundraiser).  I was wondering about any sort of Child Labor Law violations...would everyone participating have to be a volunteer?  could we pay kids beyond their volunteer hours?  is the continuous hot dog cart just a sticky idea?

[Calvino]

There is no exception to that Fair Labor act for persons who work

for a nonprofit organization and get compensation in return. The

Act's regulations are at:http://law.justia.com/us/cfr/title29/29cfrv3_02.html

and I have not found any exception that would apply when booster

clubs require work in return for funding into a family's

individual account or when they want to pay workers.

That section is 29 U.S.C. §213 Also, if you run such a business without substantially all volunteer labor, the proceeds are taxable as unrelated business. IRS Publication 598 "Tax on Unrelated Business Income of Exempt

Organizations" at

www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p598.pdf

explains that such activities are generally taxable. On page 6 you will the exception for a volunteer workforce.

Harvey Mechanic, Attorney at Law - [email protected]