Hiring seasonal workers involves following a few rules of the road, Small Business Administration blogger Caron Beesley writes, since many of the laws and regulations that apply to full-time employees also apply to seasonal or part-time employees.

Laws that cover harassment, discrimination, and workplace health and safety apply to seasonal workers just as they do to any other employee. Beesley says. Likewise, under the Fair Labor Standards Act part-time and full-time employees have equal rights concerning minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor.

Statutory benefits and taxes such as unemployment insurance, Social Security/Medicare, workers compensation insurance (and in Hawaii medical plan coverage and temporary disability insurance) also are applicable.

Caron Beesley is a small business owner, a writer, and marketing communications consultant, and she works with the SBA.gov team to promote essential government resources that help entrepreneurs and small business owners start-up, grow and succeed.