Guides

Hiring minors at a restaurant in California (2026)

Mays TeamOctober 8, 2026
The Month view of the Mays schedule for a Los Angeles location in September 2026, with the shifts, hours and staff of each day in the week of September 28, 2026, under the scheduled labor and weekly budget cards

Every worker under 18 in California needs a work permit, and the state's hours limits reach 16- and 17-year-olds too, where federal law stops at 15. The permit comes from the teen's school, so hiring a high schooler starts with paperwork before the first shift.

This page is about hiring teenagers in California: 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 California 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 California law: follow the stricter one

Two sets of child labor rules can apply to a restaurant in California: the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and California'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.

California at a glance

Rule

California

Youngest age for restaurant work

14

Work permit

Required for every worker under 18, from the teen's school (Education Code § 49160)

14–15, school day

3 hours, 18 a week, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

16–17, school day

4 hours, 48 a week, not after 10 p.m. before a school day

Breaks

The adult meal and rest breaks; no separate rule for minors

Youth wage

None: teens earn the full state minimum wage (DLSE, minimum wage)

How young can you hire?

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

California lets 14- and 15-year-olds do kitchen work and other work preparing and serving food and drinks (Labor Code § 1294.3), so 14 is the youngest age in a California restaurant too.

Hours for 14- and 15-year-olds

Limit

Federal

California

Hours on a school day

3 (29 CFR 570.35)

3 (Labor Code § 1391)

Hours in a school week

18 (29 CFR 570.35)

18 (Labor Code § 1391)

Hours on a day with no school

8 (29 CFR 570.35)

8 (Labor Code § 1391)

Hours in a week with no school

40 (29 CFR 570.35)

40 (Labor Code § 1391)

Days a week

No federal limit

No state limit

Time of day

7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day (29 CFR 570.35)

7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day (Labor Code § 1391)

During school hours

Not allowed (29 CFR 570.35)

Not allowed (Labor Code § 1391)

At this age California and federal law set the same limits, so one set of numbers covers both. A school day is one the teen has to be in school for at least four hours (Labor Code § 1391).

Hours for 16- and 17-year-olds

Limit

Federal

California

Hours on a school day

No federal limit

4 (Labor Code § 1391)

Hours in a school week

No federal limit

48, in any week (Labor Code § 1391)

Hours on a day with no school

No federal limit

8 (Labor Code § 1391)

Hours in a week with no school

No federal limit

48 (Labor Code § 1391)

Time of day

No federal limit

5 a.m. to 10 p.m. before a school day; until 12:30 a.m. before a day with no school (Labor Code § 1391)

Federal law sets no hours at this age, so California's limits are the ones to schedule by. A work permit can allow up to 8 hours on a school day that comes right before a day with no school (Education Code § 49112), and a teen who has graduated from high school may work the same hours as an adult (Labor Code § 1391.2).

Work permits and age certificates

Every worker under 18 needs a Permit to Employ and Work before you let them start, and the teen's school issues it (Education Code § 49160; DLSE, child labor). You fill in your part of the application: a written notice that you intend to hire them, with the job and the most hours a day and a week (Education Code § 49162). When school is out, the permit comes from the superintendent of the district where the teen lives, and the rules apply in summer too (DLSE, child labor; CDE, work permit FAQ).

A permit issued during the school year runs out 5 days after the next school year starts (Education Code § 49118), so ask for a new one each fall. Keep every permit on file where school attendance officers and the Labor Commissioner can inspect it (Labor Code § 1299).

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

California has no break rule of its own for minors (IWC Wage Order 5).

Teens get the adult breaks under California's wage order for restaurants: a meal period of 30 minutes when the work period is more than 5 hours (DLSE, meal periods), and 10 minutes of paid rest for every 4 hours (DLSE, rest periods).

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):

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)

California's own rules

Pay: the minimum wage, youth rates and tips

Minors earn the full California minimum wage, $16.90 an hour, with no youth rate (DLSE, minimum wage). The one lower rate is for learners of any age: 85 percent of the minimum wage during their first 160 hours in a kind of work they have no experience in (DLSE, minimum wage). Because the state minimum makes no exception for workers under 20, the federal youth wage below doesn't apply in California.

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 California 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).

California has no separate poster about minors. Keep each teen's permit on file at the workplace (Labor Code § 1299), and keep the wage order for restaurants posted where employees can read it during the workday (IWC Wage Order 5).

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

Day

Shift

Unpaid break

Hours

School day?

Monday

Off



Yes

Tuesday

4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

None

3

Yes

Wednesday

Off



Yes

Thursday

4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

None

3

Yes

Friday

Off



Yes

Saturday

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

30 minutes at 1 p.m.

6

No

Sunday

Noon to 4:30 p.m.

None

4.5

No

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).

Leo, 17, in a school week

Day

Shift

Unpaid break

Hours

School day?

Monday

Off



Yes

Tuesday

5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

None

4

Yes

Wednesday

Off



Yes

Thursday

5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

None

4

Yes

Friday

5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

None

4

Yes

Saturday

10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

30 minutes at 2 p.m.

8

No

Sunday

Off



No

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

How Mays handles this

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

  • 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.
  • Federal and California limits, each checked on its own. Mays checks the federal limits and California's own (Labor Code § 1391), and when two limit the same thing, the stricter one is the warning you see.
  • 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.

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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