Hiring minors at a restaurant in Tennessee (2026)

Tennessee's child labor law reaches 16- and 17-year-olds on school nights: no work from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. before a school day without a parent's consent form, and even with one, until midnight on no more than 3 nights a week. Every minor also gets a break that an adult in a restaurant can go without, and how much of your sales comes from alcohol decides whether you can hire a 15-year-old at all.

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

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

Tennessee's labor department says the same: employers are generally subject to both laws, and they must follow whichever provisions are more restrictive (TDLWD, child labor).

Tennessee at a glance

How young can you hire?

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

Tennessee's child labor law is written for 14- to 17-year-olds, so 14 is the youngest age in a Tennessee restaurant too (TDLWD, child labor).

Hours for 14- and 15-year-olds

Tennessee's hours match the federal ones at this age, and its time-of-day rule follows the next day rather than the season: the later 9 p.m. evening comes on any night before a day with no school, Friday and Saturday included. A restaurant the FLSA covers still stops at 7 p.m. outside June 1 through Labor Day, the stricter rule (TDLWD, child labor).

Hours for 16- and 17-year-olds

Tennessee's limits at this age are about the time of day only: the labor department lists no daily or weekly cap (TDLWD, child labor). The consent form lasts until the end of the school year, until the teen leaves the job or until they turn 18, whichever comes first, and you keep the original where the teen works (TDLWD consent form). A teen who is home schooled or attends a church-related school may work during class hours with a letter from the school's director confirming their enrollment and that they may work (TDLWD, child labor).

Work permits and age certificates

Tennessee's list of an employer's duties toward minors has no work permit in it. What it asks for instead is a separate file for each minor, kept where they work: their job application, a copy of their birth certificate, driver's license, state ID or passport, an accurate daily time record, and any papers that exempt them from the Act (TDLWD wage poster).

For a 16- or 17-year-old who is home schooled, the file also needs a document from the school district, the home school or the church-related school confirming their enrollment and that they may work (TDLWD wage poster). If they work the later school nights, the parent's consent form goes in the file too (TDLWD, child labor).

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

Tennessee: A minor (under 18) scheduled to work 6 consecutive hours gets a 30-minute unpaid break or meal period, not during or before the first hour of the work day. Neither the ample-opportunity exception nor the tipped employee's waiver applies to minors (TDLWD, child labor).

This is where Tennessee treats teens differently from adults in a restaurant. An adult in a workplace that gives ample opportunity to rest, and the labor department names food and beverage as an example, can go without the break, and a tipped server can waive it in writing (TDLWD, wages and breaks). Neither applies under 18 (TDLWD, child labor), so schedule the break into every minor's shift of 6 hours or more in a row.

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)

Tennessee's own rules

• Alcohol sales: a 15-year-old or younger may not work where alcohol makes up more than 25% of the average monthly gross receipts, or anywhere they would take orders for or serve alcohol. A 16- or 17-year-old may work in a place above that share, as long as they don't take orders for or serve alcohol (TDLWD wage poster).
• Serving alcohol takes a server permit from the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and applicants must be at least 18 (TABC FAQ).

Pay: the minimum wage, youth rates and tips

Tennessee has no minimum wage law of its own (TDLWD, minimum wage), so it has no youth or training rate either: a teen's pay follows federal law, including the federal youth wage below at a business the FLSA covers.

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 Tennessee 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 printed notice of the Child Labor Act in a conspicuous place on the premises; the state's wage regulation and child labor poster carries it (TDLWD wage poster; TDLWD, child labor). Let the department inspect every place minors work and their files, and give it records about minors' employment when it asks (TDLWD wage poster).

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 (Tennessee, TDLWD, child labor).
• Longest day with no school: 6 hours; the limit is 8 (Tennessee, TDLWD, child labor).
• The week: 16.5 hours; the limit is 18 (Tennessee, TDLWD, child labor).
• Latest finish on a night before school: 7 p.m.; not after 7 p.m. (Tennessee, TDLWD wage poster).
• Earliest start: 10 a.m.; not before 7 a.m. (Tennessee, TDLWD wage poster).

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 10 p.m. (Tennessee, TDLWD, child labor).
• Earliest start: 10 a.m.; not before 6 a.m. (Tennessee, TDLWD, child labor).

Both Saturday shifts have a 30-minute break, after the first hour, because each is scheduled for more than 6 hours in a row; every other shift is shorter than 6 hours (TDLWD, child labor).

How Mays handles this

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

• 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 Tennessee marked "Not checked yet". Mays checks the federal limits everywhere. Tennessee's own limits aren't built into Mays yet: the location's card lists Tennessee as Not checked yet, so check the Tennessee 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
• Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, child labor, checked October 5, 2026
• Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, wage regulations and child labor poster, checked October 5, 2026
• Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission, frequently asked questions, 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
• Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, child labor parental statement of consent (LB-0355), 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
• Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, wages and 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
• Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, "Should I be paid minimum wage?", checked September 24, 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.

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