united-states employment florida minor
In Florida, is there a law which causes restaurants refuse to hire minors, or to forbid minors to operate some equipment?
<p>The <a href="http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&amp;URL=0400-0499/0450/0450.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2021 Florida Statues state</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(2) No minor under 18 years of age, whether such person’s disabilities
of nonage have been removed, shall be employed or permitted or
suffered to work in any of the following places of employment or in
any of the following occupations, provided that the provisions of
paragraphs (b), (e), (g), (h), (j), (m), (o), and (q) shall not apply
to the employment of student learners under the conditions prescribed
in s. 450.161:</p>
<p>(a) In or around explosive or radioactive materials.</p>
<p>(b) On any scaffolding, roof, superstructure, residential or
nonresidential building construction, or ladder above 6 feet.</p>
<p>(c) In or around toxic substances or corrosives, including pesticides
or herbicides, unless proper field entry time allowances have been
followed.</p>
<p>(d) Any mining occupation.</p>
<p>(e) In the operation of power-driven woodworking machines.</p>
<p>(f) In the operation of power-driven hoisting apparatus.</p>
<p>(g) In the operation of power-driven metal forming, punching, or
shearing machines.</p>
<p>(h) Slaughtering, meat packing, processing, or rendering, except as
provided in 29 C.F.R. s. 570.61(c).</p>
<p>(i) In the operation of power-driven bakery machinery.</p>
<p>(j) In the operation of power-driven paper products and printing
machines.</p>
<p>(k) Manufacturing brick, tile, and like products.</p>
<p>(l) Wrecking or demolition.</p>
<p>(m) Excavation operations.</p>
<p>(n) Logging or sawmilling.</p>
<p>(o) Working on electric apparatus or wiring.</p>
<p>(p) Firefighting.</p>
<p>(q) Operating or assisting to operate, including starting, stopping,
connecting or disconnecting, feeding, or any other activity involving
physical contact associated with operating, a tractor over 20 PTO
horsepower, any trencher or earthmoving equipment, fork lift, or any
harvesting, planting, or plowing machinery, or any moving machinery.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So it appears that minors should be able to do pretty much anything an adult can when working at a restaurant.</p>
<p>Yet, when I was working at a certain fast food place, I was not allowed to use the tomato or onion slicers (which were fully mechanical), and only allowed to use a plastic knife, but not a metal one. I was permitted to use the oven though; wouldn't that be a violation of (i)?</p>
<p>Many food places also refuse to hire anyone in back of house under 18, despite some not being too different from those such as McDonald's or Wendy's.  Is there any law which imposes extra liability on restaurants in such cases, or otherwise inclines restaurants not to hire minors or allow them to operate equipment?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Some of the categories involve restaurants (i.e. 1(h) and 1(i)), and employers may not want to go through the student learner exception hoops.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Every employer has to get worker's compensation insurance for all of their employees. Those rates may be prohibitively high for minors in some kinds of activities. More generally, employers don't want to have worker's compensation claims or injured employees and may simply not trust younger employees to be safe.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Some jobs involve access to alcohol that employers want to limit.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Some jobs involve contractual authority or decision making that the employer wants to limit to adults.</p>
</li>
</ol>

<p>The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, commonly abbreviated OSHA, is the organization that oversees worker safety. OSHA has a page of <a href="https://www.osha.gov/young-workers/resources" rel="nofollow noreferrer">resources for youth workers</a>.</p>
<p>On this page are a couple of useful links.</p>
<ul>
<li>The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has created a printable <a href="https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/whd/youthrules/YouthRulesBrochure.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">brochure/poster</a> describing rules for youth workers</li>
<li>The DOL also has <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/2a-child-labor-restaurants" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fact Sheet #2A: Child Labor Rules for Employing Youth in Restaurants and Quick-Service Establishments Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)</a>, which spells out what workers are and are not permitted to do at ages 18+, 16-17, 14-15, and under 14. Here are some excerpts:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><strong>18 Years of Age</strong>: Once a youth reaches 18 years of age, he or she is no longer subject to the federal child labor provisions.</li>
<li><strong>16 &amp; 17 Years of Age</strong>: <strong>Power-driven meat and poultry processing machines</strong> (meat slicers, meat saws, patty forming machines, meat grinders, and meat choppers), commercial mixers and certain power-driven bakery machines. Employees under 18 years of age are not permitted to operate, feed, set-up, adjust, repair, or clean any of these machines or their disassembled parts.</li>
<li><strong>14 &amp; 15 Years of Age</strong>: They may not operate, clean, set up, adjust, repair or oil power driven machines including food slicers, grinders, processors, or mixers.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>So, if you are 18+, you can do anything an adult can do because you <strong>are</strong> an adult.
If you are 16-17, the federal government says you are allowed to operate vegetable slicers but not meat slicers. If you are 14-15, you are not allowed to operate meat <em>or</em> vegetable slicers. If you are under 14, you are not allowed to work in food service at all.</p>
<p>These are the laws at the federal level. Laws at the state level, specifically Florida, may be more strict but they cannot be more lenient.</p>

<p>Even if there are no laws restricting minors doing something a restaurant could still impose their own additional restrictions. There is certainly no law that says minors have to be allowed to do whatever adults are allowed to do. So restaurants can apply whatever additional rules they believe are useful for them with no real legal restrictions. If the restaurant believes minors should not handle metal knives there is no law to tell them otherwise.</p>
