Every June, local restaurants, retailers, and service businesses fill out their summer rosters with teenage workers. It’s a smart staffing move — teens are eager, schedules align with business demand, and the labor pool is large. But federal child labor laws come with a set of restrictions that most small business owners haven’t read closely since they first opened, and the details matter more than you’d expect.
The National Restaurant Association has flagged this as a live compliance gap for the industry, and it’s not limited to food service. Whether you run a hardware store, a salon, a landscaping company, or a coffee shop, the rules apply the same way — and violations can result in fines starting at $15,138 per violation under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The Two-Age Threshold That Changes Everything
Federal law draws a hard line at age 16. Workers who are 16 or 17 can do almost any job in a non-agricultural setting — their hours are essentially unrestricted by federal law (though many states add their own rules). Workers who are 14 or 15 face significantly more constraints on both the tasks they can perform and when they can work.
For 14- and 15-year-olds, the Department of Labor’s permitted occupations list defines exactly what’s allowed. The permitted tasks include cashiering, bagging, shelf stocking, food service (with limits), and office work. What’s prohibited covers a longer list: operating or cleaning most power-driven machinery, working in freezers or meat coolers for more than a brief time, cooking on open flames, and any work involving ladders or scaffolding.
If you run a sandwich shop, a 15-year-old can make sandwiches on a prep table but can’t operate a meat slicer. At a hardware store, they can work a register but can’t operate a forklift or a floor buffer. Understanding where your operation sits relative to these restrictions before the employee’s first shift is critical.
Hour Restrictions for Workers Under 16
Even if the work is permitted, the hours are capped. For 14- and 15-year-olds, federal rules allow:
- School days: No more than 3 hours per day, no more than 18 hours per week
- Non-school days: No more than 8 hours per day, no more than 40 hours per week
- During school periods: Work only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
- June 1 through Labor Day: The evening cutoff extends to 9 p.m.
That last point is relevant right now — the summer extension to 9 p.m. is active, which may be why some employers assume they have more flexibility than they actually do. The hour cap (18 hours during school weeks, 40 hours during summer) still applies regardless of the evening rule.
For practical purposes: if your local school district runs summer school, a teen attending it may still be subject to the school-day caps. Check with your state labor office if you’re uncertain.
State Laws Often Go Further
Federal rules set the floor; states can and often do impose stricter requirements. Several states require:
- Work permits or “employment certificates” signed by a parent and school official before a minor can start
- Lower maximum hours per day than the federal standard
- Meal break requirements for minors that don’t apply to adult workers
- Minimum age requirements for certain industries (some states restrict food service alcohol adjacency differently than federal rules)
The Department of Labor’s state child labor law summaries are a reliable starting point. Your state labor agency website will have the current permit forms if required.
The Documentation You Should Have on File
When a minor starts working for you, keep these on file:
- Proof of age — a birth certificate, passport, or state-issued ID. A school ID typically isn’t sufficient because it doesn’t always include a birth date.
- Work permit (if your state requires one) — signed by the parent and school, if applicable.
- A signed acknowledgment of hours and duties — not federally required, but useful if a question arises later about what the employee was assigned.
If a Department of Labor investigator visits, they’ll ask to see proof of age for all minor employees. A missing document is itself a violation, separate from any substantive issue with hours or tasks.
What the Fine Structure Looks Like
The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division enforces child labor laws, and civil penalties for violations run up to $15,138 per violation as of 2026. If a violation causes serious injury or death to a minor employee, penalties can reach $68,801 per violation. These are per-incident figures, not per-employee.
The most common citation pattern for small businesses isn’t deliberate exploitation — it’s scheduling errors (a 15-year-old accidentally worked a 4-hour school day shift) or task assignments that cross a prohibited line (a teen asked to briefly operate equipment that’s on the restricted list). Both are easy to do accidentally and both carry the same civil penalty structure.
A Practical Checklist Before Your First Teen Starts
- Confirm the employee’s exact age with documentation — not self-report.
- Obtain any state-required work permit before the first shift.
- Map your daily task list against the DOL’s permitted occupations for 14–15-year-olds if the employee is under 16.
- Build a separate scheduling template for minor employees that hard-codes the hour caps and prohibited end times.
- Brief your shift managers on what minors cannot be asked to do — managers should know this as well as you do.
- Keep age documentation and any permits in the employee file for at least three years.
Hiring teen employees is worth the extra process. They’re motivated, they often become loyal adult employees, and summer staffing is a real need for most local businesses. Getting the compliance right just means doing a bit of reading before June turns into July — and making sure your managers are running the schedule, not making it up as they go.
For the most current rules and a searchable list of permitted occupations by age, the DOL’s child labor resources page is the authoritative source, updated regularly.
