Guides

Hiring minors at a restaurant in Georgia (2026)

Mays TeamOctober 16, 2026
The My Profile page in Mays for an admin, with the personal details, the phone number and the change-password form

Georgia's own limits for 14- and 15-year-olds are looser than the federal ones: 4 hours on a school day and work until 9 p.m. all year. A restaurant the federal law covers can't use that room, so for most Georgia restaurants the federal hours are the real ones. From 16, neither law limits the hours at all.

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

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

Georgia's Department of Labor says the same: when the two laws differ, the more stringent standard is observed (GDOL, child labor).

Georgia at a glance

Rule

Georgia

Youngest age for restaurant work

14 under federal law; Georgia's own 12 reaches only employers the FLSA doesn't cover (GDOL, minimum age)

Work permit

Required under 16, from the school (GDOL, work permits)

14–15, school day

3 hours under federal law (Georgia alone allows 4), until 7 p.m.

16–17

No hours limits under Georgia or federal law (GDOL, work hours)

Breaks

None required at any age (GDOL, child labor FAQ)

Serving alcohol

Not at 17 or younger (GDOL summary sheet; GDOL, alcohol)

How young can you hire?

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

Georgia's own minimum is 12, but it applies only to employers the FLSA doesn't cover; everyone else follows the federal 14 (GDOL, minimum age).

Hours for 14- and 15-year-olds

Limit

Federal

Georgia

Hours on a school day

3 (29 CFR 570.35)

4 (O.C.G.A. Title 39, Ch. 2)

Hours in a school week

18 (29 CFR 570.35)

40, in any week (O.C.G.A. Title 39, Ch. 2)

Hours on a day with no school

8 (29 CFR 570.35)

8 (O.C.G.A. Title 39, Ch. 2)

Hours in a week with no school

40 (29 CFR 570.35)

40 (O.C.G.A. Title 39, Ch. 2)

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)

6 a.m. to 9 p.m., all year (O.C.G.A. Title 39, Ch. 2)

During school hours

Not allowed (29 CFR 570.35)

Not allowed (O.C.G.A. Title 39, Ch. 2)

Every Georgia limit at this age is looser than the federal one, so a restaurant the FLSA covers schedules by the federal column: 3 hours on a school day, 18 in a school week, and done by 7 p.m. outside June 1 through Labor Day. Teens who don't attend school, such as home-schooled teens, may not work while the local schools are in session either (GDOL, work hours).

Hours for 16- and 17-year-olds

Neither Georgia nor federal law limits the hours of 16- and 17-year-olds (GDOL, work hours): no cutoff time and no daily maximum (GDOL, child labor FAQ). The jobs list below still applies.

Work permits and age certificates

Every worker under 16 needs an employment certificate, usually called a work permit, from a school issuing officer or the county school superintendent's office (GDOL, work permits). You describe the job on the application, and the process can be done online (GDOL, work permits online). Since July 1, 2015, teens of 16 and older don't need one (GDOL, work permits online).

Keep a copy of the certificate where the teen works for as long as they work for you (GDOL, work permits), together with a letter from their school about attendance, updated every January (GDOL, school attendance). When the teen leaves, return the certificate to the issuing officer within 5 days (O.C.G.A. Title 39, Ch. 2).

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

Georgia has no break rule of its own for minors (US DOL, state meal periods).

Georgia's labor department puts it plainly: neither state nor federal law requires meal periods or breaks (GDOL, child labor FAQ).

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)

Georgia's own rules

  • Georgia lists the jobs 14- and 15-year-olds may do, and anything not on the list is prohibited (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 300-7-2-.01). The list follows the federal rules: grills without an open flame and fryers that raise and lower the baskets automatically, kitchen work and serving food, cashiering, and cleaning equipment or moving oil only at 100 °F or below (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 300-7-2-.01).
  • Alcohol: minors 17 and younger may not serve, sell, pour or take orders for alcoholic drinks in a restaurant (GDOL summary sheet; GDOL, alcohol). Local rules can be stricter (GDOL, alcohol).

Pay: the minimum wage, youth rates and tips

Georgia's own minimum wage, $5.15, reaches only work the FLSA doesn't cover (Georgia DOL, minimum wage), and Georgia has no youth rate of its own: its labor department answers the question with the federal youth wage (GDOL, FLSA FAQ).

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 Georgia 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 statements about employing minors that the Commissioner of Labor prescribes, where employees can read them; the department publishes them free on its website (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 300-7-2-.05). Keep the work certificates and records of the hours minors work at the location where they work (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 300-7-2-.05).

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:

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:

  • No federal or Georgia hours limit applies at 17; only the jobs list above does.

How Mays handles this

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

  • 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 Georgia marked "Not checked yet". Mays checks the federal limits everywhere. Georgia's own limits aren't built into Mays yet: the location's card lists Georgia as Not checked yet, so check the Georgia 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.

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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