If a 17 year old drops out, can he work full time?

Question

Im 17 and going to drop out and work full time and get a GED a little later. I really have no choice because I have to help my mom pay the bills. The law is that you have to have a work permit. does this law apply even if your parents have legally signed for you not to continue school? Im in california BTW

Answer 1

No, you can not be employed full-time until you are 18 years old. Reply from Startdust is incorrect. If you really can not stand school, work on your GED first and when you turn 18, then you can start full-time. I applaud your desire to get your ged, but am sorry to hear you don't want to finish out your last year in high school. Best wishes to you.  

Answer 2

You can not work under 18 unless you are enrolled in school.(In Wisconsin)  Try to find a better way to help mom without dropping out. It gets harder later.  And you will make more money as a graduate to help your family.  At 17 you don't have much longer anyway try to stick it out.

By the way that permit probably comes from your school.

Answer 3

I'm not sure what the legalities of it are (and you could probably call the local Dept of Labor <their number should be in the front Government section of your local phone book>), but I think that as long as you find an employer that is willing to hire you on a full-time basis, there is little for anyone to do to stop you, because I'm pretty sure that unless you look young for your age (with  the assumption that you do find a full-time job), few, if anyone, will ask for proof of your age.

I admire you for wanting to help your mother and for wanting to go back for your GED, but if you are 17, you are probably a junior or a senior in high school and I don't quite understand why it is that you don't wait until you graduate high school and just take on a part-time afterschool job until then, so you can graduate with your classmates.

I may not understand your personal situation and need for having to quit school and wish you the best of luck and success, but if I were you, I would try to hold off as long as possible to quit school (unless you are being pressured into this by your mother or both parents, but I highly doubt this is the case because any good parent looks forward to few things in life...the birth of their children, the weddings of their children, the high school/college graduation of their children and the birth of their grandchildren, just to name a few things).