Work Permit California: Requirements, Age Limits, and Job Restrictions for Minors

Minors in California need a work permit to get jobs, with specific restrictions based on age, role, and school status. This article outlines age requirements, job limitations, working hours, and exceptions to the state’s work permit rules for minors.

By Brad Nakase, Attorney

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. When do Californians need a work permit?

3. How do I obtain one?

4. Do some jobs allow me to work without a work permit?

5. At what age can I start working?

6. Are there jobs that I can’t do?

7. How much time can I work?

8. Is attending school still required of me?

9. Which regulations govern the entertainment sector?

Introduction

If you are not of legal age for employment in California, you will typically require a work permit to work. Another name for it is ‘Permit to Employ & Work.’

There are, nevertheless, certain exceptions to the rule. In addition, minors are prohibited from performing certain jobs and have their working hours restricted.

When do Californians need a work permit?

According to California’s child labor regulations, you must get a work permit in California in order to obtain employment if you:

Are younger than eighteen, and
Still haven’t received their high school diploma.

However, a work permit in California is not required for:

Perform odd tasks for pay, such as yard work or babysitting, in private residences on an irregular basis, or
Work for yourself or as a self-employed person.

How do I obtain one?

Your school may provide you with a work permit in California. CDE Form B1-1, also known as the “Statement of Intent to Employ a Minor and Request for Work Permit – Certificate of Age,” is the name of the request. You can also apply for a work permit via the website of the CDE (California Department of Education). A legal guardian or parent must sign the requested papers unless you have been emancipated.

Personnel in the office of the local school district have the authority to grant the request. If authorized, these authorities would provide the minor a Permit to Employ & Work (also known as B1-4).

This work permit in California outlines:

Where are you able to work?
What position are you able to hold?
How many hours a day and a week are you permitted to work?
The array of times throughout the day that you can work, and
Any other limitations on the work you do?

It also contains additional details, such as:

a) Name and SSN (Social Security number) of the minor,
b) Information about public or charter schools,
c) What kind of permit is being granted?

Full-time
Restricted
Workability
General
Work experience and education.

Your employer is required to maintain a duplicate of the Permit to Employ & Work at the place of employment. Officials should be able to inspect it. The HR (human resources) division is where many firms maintain it.

You risk having your work permit in California revoked if:

The work is negatively impacting your education or health, or
The work permit’s terms are not being adhered to.

Five days following the beginning of the subsequent school year, the employment permit expires.

Do some jobs allow me to work without a work permit?

It is possible to work some jobs in California without permission if you are younger than the legal working age, such as taking care of kids, mowing the grass, and running a paper route.

These jobs are open to anyone below the age of twelve.

At what age can I start working?

Working in California generally requires you to be a minimum of 14 years old. The legal working age in the state is this age. There are certain exceptions to this rule, though.

Without work authorization, minors below the age of twelve are permitted to perform some jobs. These are:

Working for oneself,
Occupations in agriculture, even those in hazardous areas, provided that you work for a legal guardian or parent who owns, manages, or runs the business,
Sporadic tasks in private residences, such as yard work and babysitting

Youngsters above 12 are permitted to market the following goods without a work permit:

Sweets, cookies, flowers, or other things delivered door-to-door or at a specific spot on the sidewalk or street,
Journals, periodicals, newspapers, or circulars, provided that the kids operate within fifty miles of their home.

However, you have to adhere to stringent adult supervision guidelines in order to work in such sales positions.

If you are younger than twelve, you may work as a child actor, but you will require a work permit in California.

Are there jobs that I can’t do?

Different jobs are restricted for working people who are minors, depending on their age.

Under the law in California, no child below the age of sixteen can work:

As a driver of a truck,
On a scaffold,
On a railroad,
On a boat,
In quarries, mines, tunnels, or excavations,
Occupations that create or employ harmful or hazardous chemicals or pigments, or that generate a lot of dust,
Jobs in the tobacco industry, or
Any other hazardous or harmful employment.

Furthermore, under the federal FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), the U.S. DOL (Department of Labor) has promulgated statutes and regulations that prohibit juveniles under the age of 18 from working:

In the excavation or roofing sectors,
At a sawmill or in the logging sector,
Occupations involving the operation of bakery equipment,
With power-driven lifting devices, such as cranes, and
Within the meatpacking sector

There are regulations that prohibit adolescents from working in specific occupations under specific conditions. For instance, you are permitted to work in an alcohol-selling package store as long as an adult who is of legal drinking age is watching you all the while.

How much time can I work?

There are three things that determine how many hours you are able to work:

How old are you?
Whether today or the day after is a school day, and
Whether or not classes are in session.

Sixteen and seventeen-year-olds are able to work:

On school days, four hours a day,
Eight hours per day on non-school days or the days leading up to them, and
48 hours a week, maximum

Fourteen and fifteen-year-olds are able to work:

If it’s not within school hours, three hours a day
Eight hours every day when classes are not in session, and
Up to eighteen hours a week, or forty hours if classes aren’t in session.

Only those 14 years of age and over who have finished seventh grade are permitted to work during the school day.

Children under the age of twelve or thirteen are not permitted to work during school hours; they are only permitted to work on holidays or during school breaks.

These hours of work have to fall between:

If you are sixteen or seventeen years old, you can stay up until 12:30 am if the following day isn’t a school day, or between 5 am and 10 pm.
Until 9 pm between July 1 through Labor Day, or 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., if you are 15 years of age or younger.

Is attending school still required of me?

Yes, but your age will determine the rules.

You must continue attending school full-time if you are younger than sixteen unless you have already earned your high school diploma.

You have to go to continuing school for a minimum of the following if you are sixteen or seventeen and have not completed high school:

Four hours a week, if you have a regular job, or
Fifteen hours a week, if you don’t have a regular job.

Which regulations govern the entertainment sector?

No minor under 16 is allowed to work without a Permit to Employ and Work. Only the DLSE (Division of Labor Standards Enforcement) Labor Commissioner is qualified to award work permits for employment in entertainment. Minors can receive one as early as 15 days of age.

Be aware that these authorizations are required even in the event that the minor is either working as an advertisement or photographic model, creating phonographic records, or providing noncommercial amusement.

Before obtaining an entertainment work permit in California, teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 must finish sexual harassment awareness training.

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Work Permit California: Requirements, Age Limits, and Job Restrictions for Minors

Introduction

When do Californians need a work permit?

How do I obtain one?

Do some jobs allow me to work without a work permit?

At what age can I start working?

Are there jobs that I can’t do?

How much time can I work?

Is attending school still required of me?

Which regulations govern the entertainment sector?

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