Hiring minors at a restaurant in Wisconsin (2026)

Wisconsin's hours limits for 14- and 15-year-olds follow the federal ones, with one more: no more than 6 days a week. The rule that reaches every teen is the meal break: no one under 18 works more than 6 hours in a row without a meal period of at least 30 minutes. From 16, the state sets no hours limits at all.

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

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

Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development says the same: every Wisconsin employer follows the state's employment of minors laws, most businesses follow the federal law as well, and where both apply, the more stringent standard of the two applies (DWD, minors law guide).

Wisconsin at a glance

How young can you hire?

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

Wisconsin sets the same minimum: no one under 14 may work in a gainful occupation, apart from a few listed jobs such as farm work and school lunch programs (Wis. Stat. ch. 103).

Hours for 14- and 15-year-olds

Wisconsin's numbers at this age match the federal ones, with one more limit: no more than 6 days a week. They count every job the teen has, so a 15-year-old who also works somewhere else stays inside them across both employers (DWD, minors guide). A 14- or 15-year-old taught at home in a qualifying home-based program works the same hours as one enrolled in public school (DWD 270).

Hours for 16- and 17-year-olds

Wisconsin no longer limits the hours 16- and 17-year-olds may work (DWD, minors law guide): the law lets the state labor department set only the length of their meal and rest breaks (Wis. Stat. ch. 103). Some of the department's guide pages still describe the old time-of-day rules for this age, such as adult supervision late at night; the state repealed those rules on June 1, 2026, because the law no longer lets the department limit these teens' hours (CR 26-015 rule text).

Work permits and age certificates

Every worker under 16 needs a work permit before they start; Wisconsin doesn't require one from 16 (Wis. Stat. ch. 103; DWD, minors law guide). The teen's parent or guardian applies online with the Department of Workforce Development and pays the $10 fee, and you pay it back no later than the teen's first paycheck (DWD, work permits; DWD 270). The department sends the permit straight to you (DWD, work permit guide); a permit officer, such as the school district, can issue one too (DWD 270; Wis. Stat. ch. 103).

File the permit before the teen does any work, where the department or a school attendance officer can inspect it. It's good only for the employer named on it (Wis. Stat. ch. 103), and a change of owner means a new one (DWD, minors law guide). For each minor under 16, record their name, address and date of birth, when they start and stop work, their meal times, and their hours each day and week (Wis. Stat. ch. 103); Wisconsin has every employer keep payroll records like these for at least 3 years (DWD 270).

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

Wisconsin: Minors under 18: no more than 6 consecutive hours without a meal period of at least 30 minutes, which should start reasonably close to 6 a.m., noon, 6 p.m. or midnight, or about midway through the work period (Wis. Stat. ch. 103).

The meal period is duty-free (DWD, breaks). Shorter breaks aren't required, but a break of less than 30 minutes counts as work time and is paid (DWD, 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)

Wisconsin's own rules

• Under 16: cooking only with direct adult supervision. Without it, a 14- or 15-year-old may still do kitchen work preparing and serving food and drinks, including dishwashers, toasters, microwaves, blenders, coffee machines and food warmers (DWD 270). The federal rules above on what they may cook with still apply.
• Alcohol: where liquor is present, 14- to 17-year-olds may work only in jobs that don't involve serving, selling, pouring or giving away liquor, or checking IDs (DWD 270). From 18, an employee without an operator's license may serve under the immediate supervision of the licensee or a licensed operator on the premises (Wis. Stat. ch. 125).

Pay: the minimum wage, youth rates and tips

Wisconsin's minimum wage is the federal $7.25, and it has a youth rate: an opportunity wage of $5.90 an hour for opportunity employees (under 20, first 90 consecutive calendar days with the employer) (DWD, minimum wage). An opportunity employee who gets tips can be paid $2.13 an hour in cash wages (Wis. Stat. ch. 104). The state labor department points out that both laws have a youth rate and Wisconsin's is the higher one, so it's the one to pay (DWD, minors law guide).

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 Wisconsin 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 department's summary of the hours minors may work, the poster Hours and Times of Day Minors May Work in Wisconsin, in a conspicuous place wherever minors work (DWD 270; DWD, minors guide).

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 school day: 3 hours; the limit is 3 (Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. ch. 103).
• Longest day with no school: 6 hours; the limit is 8 (Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. ch. 103).
• The week: 16.5 hours; the limit is 18 (Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. ch. 103).
• Days worked: 4; the limit is 6 (Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. ch. 103).
• Earliest start: 10 a.m.; not before 7 a.m. (Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. ch. 103).
• Latest finish: 7 p.m.; not after 7 p.m. (Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. ch. 103).
• Longest stretch without a break: 4.5 hours; the limit is 6 (Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. ch. 103).

Leo, 17, in a school week

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

• Longest stretch without a break: 4 hours; the limit is 6 (Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. ch. 103).

How Mays handles this

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

• 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 Wisconsin marked "Not checked yet". Mays checks the federal limits everywhere. Wisconsin's own limits aren't built into Mays yet: the location's card lists Wisconsin as Not checked yet, so check the Wisconsin 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
• Wisconsin DWD, Guide to Wisconsin's Employment of Minors Laws, checked October 5, 2026
• Wisconsin Statutes, chapter 103 (employment regulations), checked October 5, 2026
• Wisconsin DWD, work permits, checked October 5, 2026
• Wisconsin Statutes, chapter 125 (alcohol beverages), 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
• Wisconsin DWD, Wisconsin Employment of Minors Guide, checked October 5, 2026
• Wisconsin Administrative Code, chapter DWD 270 (employment of minors), checked October 5, 2026
• Wisconsin Clearinghouse Rule 26-015, final rule text, checked October 5, 2026
• Wisconsin DWD, work permit guide for parents and guardians, 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
• Wisconsin DWD, breaks and 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
• Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, minimum wage, checked September 24, 2026
• Wisconsin Statutes, chapter 104 (minimum wage), 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

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.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed.