Hiring minors at a restaurant in Pennsylvania (2026)

Pennsylvania's Child Labor Act reaches every worker under 18: each needs a work permit, each gets a break after 5 hours, and the hours limits run through age 17. For a restaurant with a liquor license there is one more rule to check before anything else: who may work there at all.

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

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

Pennsylvania's labor department says the same: where the two laws overlap, the most protective standard applies (PA L&I, child labor).

Pennsylvania at a glance

How young can you hire?

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

Pennsylvania sets the same minimum: no one under 14 may be employed (PA Child Labor Act). A restaurant that sells or serves alcohol is different: a minor under 16 may not work there at all, and from 16 only in food service and only where the restaurant holds a Sunday sales permit (see the jobs section below).

Hours for 14- and 15-year-olds

Pennsylvania counts its school week as Monday to Friday, and its 9 p.m. evening follows the school district's vacations; the federal limits (a full workweek, and 9 p.m. only from June 1 through Labor Day) still hold for a restaurant the FLSA covers. A parent or guardian of a teen under 16 also has to sign a statement that they understand the job and its hours and give permission (PA L&I, child labor).

Hours for 16- and 17-year-olds

These limits don't apply to a 16- or 17-year-old who has graduated from high school or is excused from compulsory attendance (PA Child Labor Act).

Work permits and age certificates

Every worker under 18 needs a work permit from their school district's issuing officer (PA Child Labor Act; PA L&I, child labor). It's transferable: the teen keeps the original, gives you a copy, and it stays good until they turn 18 (PDE, work permits). For a teen under 16, you also need the parent's signed statement (PA L&I, child labor).

Before the first shift, check the permit. Within 5 days of the start, write to the issuing officer with the teen's normal duties, hours, age and permit number, and write again within 5 days of their last day (PA Child Labor Act). Keep a copy of the permit, the parent's original statement and your letter (PA Child Labor Act).

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

Pennsylvania: All minors under 18: 30-minute meal period on or before 5 consecutive hours of work (PA L&I, child labor).

The break is a rest break the law calls an interval: anything shorter than 30 minutes doesn't interrupt the 5 hours (PA Child Labor Act).

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)

Pennsylvania's own rules

• Alcohol: a minor under 16 may not work in a restaurant where alcohol is sold or served. From 16, a teen may serve food, clear tables and do related work there only if the restaurant holds a Sunday sales permit from the Liquor Control Board and sends a copy to the issuing officer, and never pour or serve alcohol (PA Child Labor Act). Serving or pouring alcohol starts at 18 (PLCB, minors FAQ).
• Under 18: no running power-driven food-chopping, meat-grinding, slicing or processing machines of any kind, not just meat slicers (34 Pa. Code § 11.57).

Pay: the minimum wage, youth rates and tips

Pennsylvania has no youth or training rate: the training wage for new workers stopped in 2009, and everyone is paid at least the $7.25 minimum (34 Pa. Code § 231.103; PA L&I, wage FAQs). That also rules out the federal youth wage below, since the state minimum makes no exception for workers under 20.

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 Pennsylvania 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 state's abstract of the Child Labor Act where anyone under 18 works (PA Child Labor Act; L&I, LLC-5 abstract), and the schedule of hours for minors the labor department lists among its required posters (L&I, mandatory postings). Keep a schedule of each minor's hours: the most hours each day, the weekly total, start and stop times and meal times (PA Child Labor Act).

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).
• Monday to Friday: 6 hours; the limit is 18 (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).
• Days worked: 4; the limit is 6 (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).
• Longest stretch without a break: 4.5 hours; the limit is 5 (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).

Leo, 17, in a school week

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

• Longest day: 8 hours; the limit is 8 (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).
• Monday to Friday: 12 hours; the limit is 28 (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).
• Days worked: 4; the limit is 6 (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).
• Latest finish: 9 p.m.; not after midnight (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).
• Earliest start: 10 a.m.; not before 6 a.m. (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).
• Longest stretch without a break: 4 hours; the limit is 5 (Pennsylvania, PA Child Labor Act).

How Mays handles this

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

• 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 Pennsylvania marked "Not checked yet". Mays checks the federal limits everywhere. Pennsylvania's own limits aren't built into Mays yet: the location's card lists Pennsylvania as Not checked yet, so check the Pennsylvania 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
• Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, Child Labor Act, checked October 5, 2026
• Pennsylvania Child Labor Act (Act 151 of 2012), checked October 5, 2026
• Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, FAQs: minors on the licensed premises, 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
• Pennsylvania Department of Education, child labor law and work permits, 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
• 34 Pa. Code § 11.57 (food slicing and processing machines), checked October 5, 2026
• 34 Pa. Code § 231.103 (training wage), checked October 5, 2026
• Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, wage FAQs, 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
• Pennsylvania L&I, LLC-5: abstract of the Child Labor Act, checked October 5, 2026
• Pennsylvania L&I, mandatory postings, 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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