Hiring minors at a restaurant in North Carolina (2026)

North Carolina adopts the federal child labor rules and adds a few of its own that bind every restaurant, large or small: a youth employment certificate for each worker under 18, no school-night work between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., and limits on minors where alcohol is served.

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

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

North Carolina adopts the federal standards for 14- to 17-year-olds and adds stricter requirements that every non-farm employer follows (NCDOL, youth employment). Its own hours limits for under-16s and its break rule reach only employers the FLSA doesn't cover; the certificate, the school-night rule, the extra banned jobs and the alcohol rules reach everyone (G.S. 95-25.5).

North Carolina at a glance

How young can you hire?

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

North Carolina sets the same minimum: no one younger than 14 may be employed, except to deliver newspapers (G.S. 95-25.5).

Hours for 14- and 15-year-olds

North Carolina's numbers at this age match the federal ones, and they bind only an employer the FLSA doesn't cover; a restaurant the FLSA covers works to the same numbers under federal law (G.S. 95-25.5; NCDOL, youth hours).

Hours for 16- and 17-year-olds

The school-night rule covers every teen in grade school or high school during the school term, at every employer (G.S. 95-25.5; NCDOL, youth hours). North Carolina sets no daily or weekly hours cap at 16–17.

Work permits and age certificates

Every worker under 18 needs a youth employment certificate, and North Carolina requires it of every employer, FLSA-covered or not (G.S. 95-25.5). It's done online with the state Department of Labor: the teen, a parent and you sign it electronically on or before the first day of work, and nothing is mailed (NCDOL, youth certificates).

A certificate is good only for the employer named on it, at all of your locations, and a new employer needs a new one (13 NCAC 12). Keep it for 3 years after the teen turns 18 or leaves (NCDOL, youth certificates).

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

North Carolina: Under 16: at least a 30-minute break after five hours of work, and a break shorter than 30 minutes doesn't interrupt the five hours. NCDOL says this rule generally applies only to enterprises with gross sales or receipts of less than $500,000 a year and to private nonprofits. No break is required at 16 or older (NCDOL, breaks).

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)

North Carolina's own rules

• Alcohol, where the restaurant holds an on-premises ABC permit: no one under 15 on the premises, except a 14-year-old working the outside grounds with a parent's written consent, and no one under 18 preparing, serving, pouring or selling alcoholic drinks (G.S. 95-25.5). Selling includes taking the order and handling the payment (13 NCAC 12).
• Under 18: no work with a risk of falling 10 feet or more, ladders and scaffolds included (13 NCAC 12).

Pay: the minimum wage, youth rates and tips

North Carolina's minimum wage is the federal $7.25, and the state law doesn't cover businesses the FLSA covers (G.S. 95-25.14). For the small employers it does cover, full-time students, learners, apprentices and messengers may be paid 90 percent of it (G.S. 95-25.3). At a restaurant the FLSA covers, the federal youth wage below is the one that matters.

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 North Carolina 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).

Every establishment the state wage law covers must display North Carolina's wage and hour poster (G.S. 95-25.15), and the state labor department asks every business to post it (NCDOL, posters). It includes a section on youth employment. Keep a record of the start and end times of every worker under 18 (13 NCAC 12).

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 stretch without a break: 4.5 hours; the limit is 5 (North Carolina, for employers the FLSA doesn't cover, NCDOL, breaks).

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 11 p.m. (North Carolina, G.S. 95-25.5).

How Mays handles this

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

• 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 North Carolina marked "Not checked yet". Mays checks the federal limits everywhere. North Carolina's own limits aren't built into Mays yet: the location's card lists North Carolina as Not checked yet, so check the North Carolina 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
• NC Department of Labor, youth employment rules, checked October 5, 2026
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.5, checked October 5, 2026
• NC Department of Labor, apply for a youth employment certificate, checked October 5, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.2 (minimum age standards), checked September 24, 2026
• 29 CFR 570.35 (hours for 14- and 15-year-olds), checked September 24, 2026
• NC Department of Labor, work hour limits for youths, checked October 5, 2026
• North Carolina Administrative Code, 13 NCAC 12 (wage and hour rules), 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
• North Carolina Department of Labor, what to know about breaks, checked September 24, 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
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.14, checked October 5, 2026
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.3, 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
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.15, checked October 5, 2026
• NC Department of Labor, state and federal workplace poster requirements, 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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