Hiring minors at a restaurant in Alabama (2026)

In Alabama the paperwork is the employer's, not the teen's: before anyone aged 14 to 17 works a shift, you need a child labor certificate from the Department of Workforce for that location, renewed every year. For a restaurant, though, the rule that decides who you can hire is about alcohol: a place that serves drinks on the premises can't employ anyone under 16, family of the owner aside, and from 16 a teen there can bus tables, wash dishes, cook or seat guests, but not serve alcohol.

This page is about hiring teenagers in Alabama: the youngest age you can hire, how long and how late 14- to 17-year-olds may work, work permits, breaks, the kitchen jobs they can't do, posters, two example weeks checked against every limit, and what Mays checks for you. Wages, tips and overtime are on Alabama restaurant pay rules (2026); they apply to teenagers too, and this page adds only what is different for them.

Checked October 5, 2026: every figure on this page was read on its official source; the Sources list at the end gives the date of each check.

This is general information, not legal advice. Whether a rule applies can depend on your business's size and your own facts; the note at the end says more.

Federal and Alabama law: follow the stricter one

Two sets of child labor rules can apply to a restaurant in Alabama: the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Alabama's own law. Where the state law is less strict, the federal law applies, and where the state law is stricter, the state law applies (US DOL, state child labor). The FLSA covers a business with at least two employees and annual sales of at least $500,000 (DOL Fact Sheet #14), and it can cover workers at a smaller one individually, when their work regularly involves trade between states.

Alabama's own child labor poster says the same: where state and federal law differ, the law that gives the minor the most protection takes precedence (Ala. child labor poster). Its brochure adds that a job Alabama law allows may still be restricted by federal law (Ala. child labor brochure).

Alabama at a glance

How young can you hire?

Under federal law, 14 is the youngest age for restaurant work (29 CFR 570.2).

Alabama sets the same minimum: no one under 14 may be employed (Ala. child labor poster), and a 14- or 15-year-old may work only outside school hours and during school vacations (Code of Ala. § 25-8-33). Owning the business doesn't exempt your own children; the state's brochure says a child may be exempt from the age requirement only when the parent is the sole owner, supervises the child directly and gives them non-hazardous duties (Ala. child labor brochure).

Hours for 14- and 15-year-olds

Alabama's numbers at this age match the federal ones, with two differences. It adds a 6-day week, all year. And its evening limit follows the school calendar, not the date: 7 p.m. on every day while school is in regular session, weekends included, and 9 p.m. only during summer vacation (Code of Ala. § 25-8-36). The federal 9 p.m. runs from June 1 through Labor Day, so the later evening needs both: summer vacation and those dates. If school starts back before Labor Day, a 15-year-old is done by 7 p.m. again from the first day of school, even though the federal summer hours still run (Code of Ala. § 25-8-36; Ala. child labor poster).

A 14- or 15-year-old also needs a break of at least 30 minutes before working more than 5 hours in a row (below), and the department revokes or suspends their employment if their school attendance and performance aren't satisfactory to the school's head administrator (Code of Ala. § 25-8-45).

Hours for 16- and 17-year-olds

That is Alabama's only hours limit from 16: no daily or weekly cap, and in the months when school is out, no limit at all (Ala. child labor poster). It reaches further than the federal rules, though: it covers every student aged 16 to 18 enrolled in a public or private school, so an 18-year-old senior on your crew can't close past 10 p.m. on a school night either. The local superintendent of schools, or the headmaster where there is none, can grant an exemption when it is in the teen's best interests, and reports it to a child labor inspector (Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).

Work permits and age certificates

Alabama doesn't give teens a work permit; it licenses the employer. To employ anyone aged 14 to 17 you need a child labor certificate from the Department of Workforce for each location: Class I for 14- and 15-year-olds, Class II for 16- and 17-year-olds (Code of Ala. § 25-8-45; Ala. Dept. of Workforce, child labor). Each costs $15 and is issued for a year, so renew it annually (Code of Ala. § 25-8-45), and keep it posted in a public, conspicuous place (Code of Ala. § 25-8-38). Employing a minor without the right certificate costs $50 per minor, and you still have to get the certificate (Code of Ala. § 25-8-45). The old eligibility-to-work form for teens was repealed in 2024 (Code of Ala. § 25-8-46).

For a 14- or 15-year-old, also keep a list of every one you employ, for inspectors (Code of Ala. § 25-8-45). The teen's parent tells the school who employs them (Code of Ala. § 25-8-45).

For every employee under 19, keep on the premises an Employee Information Form (name, home address, phone number, date of birth, date of hire and school) and proof of age, such as a copy of a birth certificate, a driver's license or a government ID with the name and date of birth (Code of Ala. § 25-8-38; Ala. Dept. of Workforce, child labor). Keep their time records there for the last 60 days, with the hours worked each day, the start and end times and the break times, and keep all of these records for at least 1 year, at the location or centrally (Code of Ala. § 25-8-38). The department can inspect any business without notice or a warrant (Ala. Dept. of Workforce, child labor).

Federal law itself doesn't require work permits (DOL Fact Sheet #43). An age certificate on file protects you from unknowingly hiring someone too young, and the federal rules suggest getting one whenever a teen says they are only a year or two over the minimum age for the job (29 CFR 570.5).

Breaks for minors

Alabama: 14 and 15: no more than five hours in a row without a documented break of at least 30 minutes for a meal or rest; a shorter break does not interrupt the five hours. For every employee under 19, keep time records showing the hours worked each day, the starting and ending times and the break times (Code of Ala. § 25-8-38).

From 16, Alabama requires no breaks (Ala. child labor brochure).

Federal law doesn't require meal or rest breaks at any age (DOL Fact Sheet #43).

Jobs minors can't do in your restaurant

Some jobs are off limits whatever the hours. Under federal law, no one under 18 may do these (DOL Fact Sheet #2A):

• Meat or deli slicer, meat grinder, patty former (29 CFR 570.61)
• Dough or batter mixer, dough sheeter or brake (29 CFR 570.62)
• Cardboard baler or trash compactor (29 CFR 570.63)
• Delivery driving (29 CFR 570.52)

And 14- and 15-year-olds also may not do these:

• Baking (29 CFR 570.33)
• Cooking other than on an electric or gas grill with no open flame, or a fryer that lowers and raises its baskets automatically (29 CFR 570.33)
• Power-driven food slicers, grinders, choppers, processors, cutters or mixers (29 CFR 570.33)
• Work in freezers or meat coolers (more than stepping in to fetch an item) (29 CFR 570.33)
• Ladders or scaffolds (29 CFR 570.33)
• Filtering, pouring or carrying hot oil or grease above 100 °F (29 CFR 570.34)
• Loading or unloading trucks (29 CFR 570.33)

Alabama's own rules

• Alabama keeps its own lists, alongside the federal ones above (Ala. child labor brochure). Under 16, they include operating or helping to operate any washing, grinding or mixing machinery, driving any motor vehicle, and working at the top of a ladder, lift or scaffold higher than 6 feet (Code of Ala. § 25-8-35). The law doesn't define washing machinery, so ask the Department of Workforce before you put a 14- or 15-year-old on the dish machine.
• Under 18: no operating power-driven bakery machinery, no cleaning, oiling or servicing machinery in motion, and no activity involving slaughtering, butchering and meat cutting (Code of Ala. § 25-8-43). That last one isn't limited to power-driven machines, so keep teens off meat-cutting prep.
• Alcohol: no one under 16 may work where alcohol is sold or served for drinking on the premises. From 16, teens may work there as bussers, dishwashers, janitors, cooks, hosts or seaters (Code of Ala. § 25-8-44). Members of the owner's or operator's immediate family aged 14 or 15 may work there if they don't serve, sell, pour or handle alcohol (Code of Ala. § 25-8-44).
• Staff under 21 at a place with an ABC license may not handle, serve or pour alcohol, and a representative of the licensee aged 21 or older must be there the whole time they work (Code of Ala. § 28-1-5). The exception for restaurants: at one certified every year under the Responsible Vendor Program, staff aged 18 to 20 may serve alcohol as servers or bussers, but never tend bar or pour (Code of Ala. § 28-1-5; Alabama ABC Board, Responsible Vendor Program).
• Penalties: the department imposes $5,000 to $10,000 for putting a minor in a banned job or hiring someone under age (Code of Ala. § 25-8-59), and at least $300 for breaking the hours, break, records, certificate or alcohol-workplace rules (Code of Ala. § 25-8-59). Each employee affected can be a separate penalty (Code of Ala. § 25-8-59).

Pay: the minimum wage, youth rates and tips

Alabama has no minimum wage law of its own (Alabama labor department, wage and hour), so it has no youth or training rate either: a teen's pay follows federal law, including the federal youth wage below at a business the FLSA covers.

Federal law lets an employer pay $4.25 an hour to a worker under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days on the job, but not to push out other workers, and not where a state or local law requires more and makes no exception for workers under 20 (DOL Fact Sheet #32).

Everything else about pay, from the tipped cash wage to tip pools and overtime, is on Alabama restaurant pay rules (2026).

Posters and records

Every employer the federal minimum wage law covers must display the federal poster, Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, where employees can readily read it; it includes a section on child labor (US DOL, FLSA poster).

Post the Department of Workforce's child labor poster, the 2024 version or later, at every location that employs minors (Ala. child labor brochure): Alabama law requires a printed notice of the hours minors may work wherever anyone under 19 is employed (Code of Ala. § 25-8-38), and the poster carries it (Ala. child labor poster). Keep the location's child labor certificate posted too (Code of Ala. § 25-8-38).

Two example weeks

Two made-up schedules for a week in October, when school is in session Monday to Friday: Maya, 15, and Leo, 17. Each line under a schedule is a limit from this page, and the week stays inside every one of them.

Maya, 15, in a school week

That's 16.5 hours over 4 days. How the week measures up:

• Longest school day: 3 hours; the limit is 3 (federal, 29 CFR 570.35).
• The week: 16.5 hours; the limit is 18 (federal, 29 CFR 570.35).
• Earliest start: 10 a.m.; not before 7 a.m. (federal, 29 CFR 570.35).
• Latest finish: 7 p.m.; not after 7 p.m. (federal, 29 CFR 570.35).
• Longest school day: 3 hours; the limit is 3 (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).
• Longest day with no school: 6 hours; the limit is 8 (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).
• The week: 16.5 hours; the limit is 18 (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).
• Days worked: 4; the limit is 6 (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).
• Earliest start: 10 a.m.; not before 7 a.m. (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).
• Latest finish: 7 p.m.; not after 7 p.m. (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).
• Longest stretch without a break: 4.5 hours; the limit is 5 (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-38).

Leo, 17, in a school week

That's 20 hours over 4 days. How the week measures up:

• Latest finish on a night before school: 9 p.m.; not after 10 p.m. (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).
• Earliest start: 10 a.m.; not before 5 a.m. (Alabama, Code of Ala. § 25-8-36).

Maya's Saturday shift has a 30-minute break partway through, because the shift runs longer than 5 hours in a row; her Sunday shift is shorter, so it needs none (Code of Ala. § 25-8-38). Leo's long Saturday has a break too, though Alabama doesn't require one at 17.

How Mays handles this

Mays builds the schedule, runs the time clock and keeps each person's details for every location. For teenagers in Alabama:

• Turn on minors' rules per location. Work rules for minors are part of Labor law compliance: switch on Minors (under 18) on the location's Labor & compliance card. Mays then works out each person's age on every shift date from their date of birth.
• The federal limits, and Alabama marked "Not checked yet". Mays checks the federal limits everywhere. Alabama's own limits aren't built into Mays yet: the location's card lists Alabama as Not checked yet, so check the Alabama rules on this page yourself, above all the ones stricter than federal law.
• Warnings on the schedule, never a block. A shift that breaks a limit is outlined with Minor rule, each minor's row shows their age band and the week's hours against their limit, and the warnings before publishing name the law. You can still publish.
• The auto-scheduler stays inside the limits. It never puts a minor on a shift that would break one of their limits: it gives the shift to someone else or leaves it open, and tells you why.
• Tasks by position. Give a position a minimum age and tick the federal tasks it involves, such as a meat slicer or delivery driving. A minor scheduled in it gets a warning, and the auto-scheduler won't put them there.
• School days from a calendar. By default Mays counts Monday to Friday as school days from the day after Labor Day through May, with school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can add your school district's own calendar, breaks included.
• Hours across every location. A teen who works at two of your locations is held to one weekly limit, because the limits apply per employer.
• What Mays doesn't check yet: minors' meal breaks, work permits and clock-ins. Keep the permits on file yourself, and schedule the breaks above.

How to set it up: Scheduling minors.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from these official pages, as they read on the date shown.

• US Department of Labor, state child labor standards, checked October 5, 2026
• US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #14: coverage under the FLSA, checked October 5, 2026
• Alabama Department of Workforce, Child Labor Law poster (2026), checked October 5, 2026
• Alabama Department of Workforce, child labor brochure (2026), checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-44, checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-45, checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-36, checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-38, checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 28-1-5, checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.2 (minimum age standards), checked September 24, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-33, checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.35 (hours for 14- and 15-year-olds), checked September 24, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-37, checked October 5, 2026
• Alabama Department of Workforce, child labor, checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-46, checked October 5, 2026
• US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #43: child labor provisions for nonagricultural occupations, checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.5 (certificates of age), checked October 5, 2026
• US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #2A: child labor rules for restaurants, checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.61 (Hazardous Occupations Order 10: meat slicers and processing machines), checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.62 (Hazardous Occupations Order 11: bakery machines), checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.63 (Hazardous Occupations Order 12: balers and compactors), checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.52 (Hazardous Occupations Order 2: driving), checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.33 (jobs barred at 14 and 15), checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.34 (jobs allowed at 14 and 15), checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-35, checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-43, checked October 5, 2026
• Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, Responsible Vendor Program, checked October 5, 2026
• Code of Alabama § 25-8-59, checked October 5, 2026
• Alabama Department of Labor, wage and hour information, checked September 24, 2026
• US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #32: youth minimum wage, checked October 5, 2026
• US Department of Labor, the FLSA minimum wage poster, checked October 5, 2026

This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws change, and coverage rules (your business's size, whether federal law covers you, a teen's schooling) decide which of them apply. Check the pages above, and ask an employment lawyer about your situation.

Schedule teenagers without the guesswork

Add each teen's date of birth, turn on minors' rules for the location, and Mays warns you before a shift runs too long or too late.

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