3220. Certificate of physical fitness. 1. A certificate of physical fitness shall be issued to a minor if a thorough physical examination made within twelve months of his or her application for an employment certificate shows that such minor is of sound health, and if there are no known health problems at the time of issuance of the certificate, and if the applicant is physically qualified for lawful employment. If a known health problem exists at the time of the application for such certificate, another examination may be required by the issuing authority. Such certificate shall be issued and such physical examination shall be made, in a city of over three hundred thousand population, by a physician designated by the board of health, and elsewhere by the director of school health services charged with the duty of making physical examinations of all school children or by any physician duly licensed to practice medicine in this state. A new certificate of physical fitness shall not be required if one had been issued to the minor within twelve months.
2. If the physician authorized to issue certificates of physical fitness shall find that a minor from fourteen to eighteen years of age is not physically sound but that in the physician's opinion the minor may safely engage in certain occupations as specified by the regulations of the commissioner of education, the physician shall require a pledge of employment and may issue to the minor a certificate of limited physical fitness, and shall describe therein the physical disability of the minor and shall indicate the particular employer and the occupation in which the minor may engage. A limited employment certificate issued to a minor from fourteen to eighteen years of age who has presented a certificate of limited physical fitness shall be valid for not more than six months from the date of its issuance and shall bear on the face of the certificate the date of its expiration and the particular employer and occupation to which the employment of the minor is limited; provided, however, that the examining physician may indicate upon the certificate of limited physical fitness that the physical disability of the minor is of a permanent nature, in which case such certificate shall not expire at the end of six months but shall remain valid for so long as the nature and type of work set forth in the pledge of employment remain substantially the same.
3. A record made of the physical examination shall show whether a certificate of physical fitness has been issued or withheld. Such record shall be sent to the certificating official.
4. A certificate of physical fitness issued in another state to a minor seeking employment in this state may be accepted in lieu of the certificate of physical fitness required by subdivision one of this section, provided the standards for issuing such certificates in the other state are deemed substantially equivalent to those of this state in accordance with regulations adopted by the commissioner of education.
Last modified: February 3, 2019