Foodservice Laws & Regulations

TEEN LABOR

Anyone under 16 must have a work permit for your place of employment to legally work there. Minimum age to work in a restaurant is 14. The only exception the children of the restaurant’s owners working in their parents’ or guardian’s business. In this case, the Wisconsin rules for 14- and 15-year-olds apply.

As of 2011 Wisconsin’s child labor hours limitations for 14- and 15-year-olds match federal law:

• After Labor Day through May 31, may not work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m.
  
• Between June 1 and Labor Day, may not work before 7 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
  
• May not work more than 6 days a week.
  
• May work up to 3 hours on school days and 8 hours on non-school days.
  
• May work up to 18 hours during school weeks and 40 hours during non-school weeks.
  
• Must receive a 30-minute meal break if working more than 6 hours. (Break may be unpaid.)
  

14 and 15 year olds STATE VS FEDERAL

Restaurants subject to Wisconsin and federal law 14- and 15-year-olds:

• May bus tables, wash dishes, or wait tables provided they do not serve, sell, dispense or give away alcoholic beverages.
  
• May cook under certain circumstances. (See next slide for detailed information.)
  
• May not bake.
  
• May not use a meat slicer, grinder or heavy bakery equipment.
  

Restaurants subject to Wisconsin law only 14- and 15-year-olds:

• May bus tables, wash dishes or wait tables provided they do not serve, sell, dispense or give away alcoholic beverages.
  
• May cook or bake under adult supervision.
  
• May not use a meat slicer, grinder or heavy bakery equipment.

COOKING (for 14- and 15- year-olds under federal law)

The federal teen-labor rules that took effect in 2005, permit 14- and 15-year-olds to perform various food and-beverage prep work, as well as kitchen work, and provide examples of equipment that these employees may use. The Department of Labor (DOL) rules are not too different from the previous regulations, but do a better job of reflecting advances in restaurant kitchens and foodservice equipment.

• MAY perform various food-and-beverage preparation work.
  
• MAY clean, maintain and repair cooking devices such as grills, deep-fat fryers and steam tables if equipment surfaces are below 100° F.*
  
• MAY change, clean and dispose of oil and grease, or oil and grease filters, if the temperature of the liquid is below 100° F.*
  
• MAY cook using electric or gas grills that do not have open flames.
  
• MAY cook using deep fryers that are equipped with and utilize devices that automatically lower and raise baskets.
  
• May NOT cook over open flames.
  
• May NOT bake, including any part of the baking process: weighing, mixing, putting products in pans or trays; operating pans of any type; and removing items from ovens or placing on cooling trays.
  
• May NOT use deep fryers that require the operator to manually raise or lower the baskets, or that do not use baskets to contain the food product during frying.
  
• May NOT use rotisseries, broilers, pressurized equipment including fry-o-lators, or cooking devices that operate at extremely high temperatures such as “Neico broilers.”
  
• May NOT clean, maintain or repair cooking equipment such as grills, deepfat fryers and steam tables if the equipment surface exceeds 100° F. (The DOL points out that simple maintenance of grills is permissible for 14- and 15-year-olds—i.e., the routine part of the actual cooking process whereby the employee uses water and a spatula to scrape away food particles and grease from the surface of the grill.)
  
• May NOT change, clean or dispose of oil and grease, or oil and grease filters, if the temperature of the liquids exceeds 100° F. This includes a ban on lifting, moving or carrying containers of hot grease or oil 100° F or higher.

TEEN ON THE JOB DRIVING

16-year-olds are forbidden from all on-the-job driving and 17-year-olds may not drive a delivery vehicle unless:

• Driving a delivery vehicle is only “occasional and incidental” to the minor’s employment. (Driving for deliveries may not be a regular or frequent part of the employee’s duties. They may only spend one-third of their workday or 20 percent of their work week on the road for their employers.)
• It is during daylight hours
  
• The minor has a Wisconsin driver’s license and has completed a state-approved driver’s education program
  
• The teen does not have a record of any moving violations at the time of hire
  
• The vehicle is equipped with seatbelts and the employer instructs the teen that seatbelts must be used.

Teens may not:

• Tow vehicles
• Operate vehicles over 6,000 pounds
• Perform route sales or deliveries or urgent, time-sensitive deliveries*
• Transport more than three passengers or drive beyond a 30-mile radius from their place of employment
• Perform more than two trips per day from the place of employment to deliver customer goods or transport passengers (other than fellow employees.)

* The Department of Labor (DOL) explains that urgent, time-sensitive deliveries include trips subject to timelines, schedules or turnaround times in order to satisfy customers or protect the product from temperature changes and other deterioration. The DOL specifically states that prohibited trips would include delivery of pizzas and prepared foods for customers. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that employers may use 17-year olds for normal deliveries of food to outside customers.