CAN MINORS BE EMPLOYED AS INDEPEDENT CONTRACTORS?

In NY, a minor (those under 18) need "working papers". See https://labor.ny.gov/youth/14-to-17.shtm and Article 4 of New York Labor Law.

But what of the "babysitter", the "snow shoveler", etc.? For an interesting twist on a child injured while mowing a lawn, see Vincent v. Riggi & Sons, 30 NY 2d 406 - NY: Court of Appeals 1972 and note the following:

""Employed" is elsewhere defined to include those "permitted or suffered to work" (Labor Law, § 2, subd. 7). The language has been construed to include independent contractors. Thus, in Koenig v. Patrick Constr. Corp. this court interpreted a similar phrase "employing or directing another to perform labor of any kind" as covering both employees and independent contractors (298 N.Y. 313, 316-317). Indeed, in Bernal v. Baptist Fresh Air Home Soc. (275 App. Div. 88, 95, affd. 300 N.Y. 486), concerned both with section 130 and section 2 (subd. 7), the phrase "permitted or suffered to work" was interpreted as including children employed by a subcontractor when the principal had knowledge of the employment (see, also, Clark v. Arkansas Democrat Co., 242 Ark. 133, 135, 410*410 interpreting the phrase "employed or permitted to work" of a child labor statute as covering an independent contractor)."