Hiring minors at a restaurant in New York (2026)

New York limits the hours of every worker under 18, not just the youngest: 16- and 17-year-olds in school get a school-week cap and a school-night curfew that federal law doesn't have. Every teen also needs working papers, and you post a schedule of their hours where they work.

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

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

New York at a glance

How young can you hire?

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

New York sets the same minimum: no one under 14 may work in a trade, business or service (NY Labor Law § 130).

Hours for 14- and 15-year-olds

New York is stricter than federal law in two places: no more than 6 days a week, and the later summer evening starts on June 21, not June 1. A week counts as a vacation week only when school is closed for the whole calendar week (NY DOL, minors).

Hours for 16- and 17-year-olds

These limits are for teens enrolled in a daytime school. A 16- or 17-year-old who isn't enrolled is held to the vacation limits all year, and in a week when school is closed they may work until midnight (NY Labor Law § 143).

Work permits and age certificates

Every worker aged 14 to 17 needs working papers, an employment certificate the teen gets from the school's guidance office (NYSDOL, working papers). Before the first shift, file it at the workplace where an inspector can read it, and give it back to the teen when they leave (NY Labor Law § 135).

From May 9, 2027, working papers go digital: the state Department of Labor will issue them through its own system, and every employer of minors will register there (NY Labor Law § 135; NYSDOL, working papers).

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

New York has no break rule of its own for minors (NY DOL, minors).

Teens get the adult meal periods. For example, a shift of more than 6 hours that runs over the noon meal earns at least 30 minutes off for a meal (NY Labor Law § 162).

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)

New York's own rules

• Under 16: no operating washing, grinding, cutting, slicing, pressing or mixing machinery, whether or not it's power-driven (NY Labor Law § 133; NYSDOL, working papers).
• Any minor: no adjusting belts or cleaning, oiling or wiping machinery, no running power-driven bakery machines, and no riding along as a helper on a delivery vehicle (NY Labor Law § 133).
• Alcohol: a licensed restaurant may not employ anyone under 18 as a host, server or in any job where they sell, pour or handle alcohol; a busser or dishwasher under 18 may handle used glasses under the direct supervision of someone of drinking age (NY ABC Law § 100).

Pay: the minimum wage, youth rates and tips

Minors earn the full New York minimum wage: $16.00 an hour, or $17.00 in New York City, Long Island and Westchester (NY State, minimum wage). There is no youth or student rate, and the hospitality wage order says learners and trainees get the full minimum too (NY Hospitality Wage Order). Because the state minimum makes no exception for workers under 20, the federal youth wage below doesn't apply in New York.

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 New York 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 a schedule for every minor, with the times they start and stop and their meal times, in each place where they work (NY Labor Law § 144; NYSDOL, LS 171). A minor found working outside the posted hours, or a missing schedule, is evidence of a violation (NY Labor Law § 144).

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).
• Days worked: 4; the limit is 6 (New York, NY Labor Law § 142).

Leo, 17, in a school week

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

• Longest school day before another school day: 4 hours; the limit is 4 (New York, NY Labor Law § 143).
• Longest day: 8 hours; the limit is 8 (New York, NY Labor Law § 143).
• The week: 20 hours; the limit is 28 (New York, NY Labor Law § 143).
• Days worked: 4; the limit is 6 (New York, NY Labor Law § 143).
• Latest finish on a night before school: 9 p.m.; not after 10 p.m. (New York, NY Labor Law § 143).
• Earliest start: 10 a.m.; not before 6 a.m. (New York, NY Labor Law § 143).

How Mays handles this

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

• 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 New York limits, each checked on its own. Mays checks the federal limits and New York's own (NY Labor Law § 143), 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.
• The posted schedule. Print a location's week from the Schedule page, with each person's shifts by day, as the start of the schedule New York asks you to post, and add each minor's meal times, which the printout doesn't show.

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
• New York State Department of Labor, working papers, checked October 5, 2026
• New York Labor Law § 144 (minors' hours schedule), checked October 5, 2026
• New York Alcoholic Beverage Control Law § 100, checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.2 (minimum age standards), checked September 24, 2026
• New York Labor Law § 130, checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.35 (hours for 14- and 15-year-olds), checked September 24, 2026
• New York Labor Law § 142 (hours of minors 14 and 15), checked September 24, 2026
• New York Labor Law § 131, checked October 5, 2026
• New York State Department of Labor, hours of work for minors, checked October 5, 2026
• New York Labor Law § 143 (hours of minors 16 and 17), checked September 24, 2026
• New York Labor Law § 135 (employment certificates), 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
• New York Labor Law § 162, meal periods, 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
• New York Labor Law § 133 (occupations barred to minors), checked October 5, 2026
• New York State, New York State's minimum wage, checked September 24, 2026
• New York Hospitality Industry Wage Order (12 NYCRR Part 146), checked October 5, 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
• New York State Department of Labor, LS 171: child labor 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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