How to Get a Work Permit in California as a Minor

To get a work permit in California as a minor, you complete Form B1-1 (Statement of Intent to Employ a Minor and Request for a Work Permit) with signatures from yourself, a parent or guardian, and your prospective employer, then submit it to your school, which reviews the information and issues the actual permit on Form B1-4. Once everyone signs promptly, the whole process can be finished in a few days.

Before You Start

You need a job offer first. Form B1-1 asks for the employer’s name, your supervisor, the work you’ll be doing, and the hours they plan to schedule, so there’s no way to fill it out in advance of finding work.

You also have to clear a few personal thresholds:

You’re under 18 and haven’t graduated high school or earned a certificate of proficiency. Once you graduate or earn a GED, California treats you as an adult for work-hour purposes and no permit is required.¹
You’re at least 14. Federal law bars most commercial employment below that age, and California follows the same baseline. Entertainment work runs on a separate track and has no minimum age.²
You’re enrolled and meeting attendance requirements. A student who is truant or has dropped out cannot receive a permit, because issuing one would sanction a violation of California’s compulsory attendance laws.³
Your grades are holding up. School districts have discretion to set academic conditions, and many require a minimum 2.0 GPA. The official who signs your permit checks grades and attendance, so a mid-semester slump can delay your start date.³

If you’re homeschooled or otherwise don’t attend a public, private, or charter school, the county superintendent of schools handles your permit instead of a school office. Education Code 49110 specifically covers minors who reside outside a school district’s jurisdiction.⁴

Step 1: Fill Out Form B1-1

Pick up a blank Form B1-1 from your school office or download it from the California Department of Education. Its full title is “Statement of Intent to Employ a Minor and Request for a Work Permit – Certificate of Age.” Three people fill out separate sections of the same form:⁵

You provide your name, home address, birth date, Social Security number, school, grade level, and signature.
Your employer fills in the business name and address, the supervisor, a description of the work, the maximum daily and weekly hours they plan to schedule, and confirmation that you’re covered by workers’ compensation insurance.
Your parent or guardian signs to consent to the employment and certify the form’s accuracy.

The form asks whether the work will happen during the school year or on vacation, because the hour limits are different. Answer accurately. If the employer’s stated schedule exceeds what California allows for your age, the school will refuse to issue a permit until the hours are corrected.

Step 2: Submit It and Get Form B1-4

Bring the completed B1-1 back to your school. The people authorized to issue a permit are your school district superintendent, your charter school’s chief executive officer, the school principal if the superintendent has delegated authority, or a credentialed pupil personnel services specialist.⁴ The official verifies your grades, attendance, and that the job, hours, and conditions comply with California law.

If everything checks out, the official signs and issues Form B1-4, “Permit to Employ and Work.” That’s your actual authorization to start the job. Copies go to the school district or county superintendent, your parent or guardian, and your employer, who must keep the permit on file at the workplace and make it available for inspection by labor enforcement officers.⁶

Each permit is tied to a specific employer. If you quit and take a new job, you need a fresh B1-1 and B1-4 for the new employer. You can hold permits from more than one employer at the same time, but your combined hours across all jobs still can’t exceed California’s limits for your age.³

Hour Limits Your Permit Will Enforce

Because the school reviews the hours your employer wrote on the B1-1, it helps to know the caps before you hand over the form. California limits both daily and weekly hours, and the limits tighten while school is in session.⁷

Ages 14 and 15

School in session: up to 3 hours on a school day, 8 hours on a non-school day, 18 hours per week.
School not in session: up to 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week.
No work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when the evening cutoff extends to 9 p.m.

Ages 16 and 17

School in session: up to 4 hours on a school day, 8 hours on a non-school day, 48 hours per week.
School not in session: up to 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week.
No work before 5 a.m. or after 10 p.m. on a night before a school day. Before a non-school day, the cutoff extends to 12:30 a.m.

A “school day” under California law is any day you’re scheduled for at least 240 minutes of instruction. Days with shorter schedules don’t count, so your hours expand on those days even though you had classes.³ Students in work experience education programs may qualify for extended weekly limits of up to 23 hours during school weeks.

Jobs a Permit Won’t Cover

A work permit doesn’t unlock every job. Both federal and California law prohibit minors from certain tasks, and no permit overrides those bans.

The U.S. Department of Labor maintains 17 Hazardous Occupation Orders that apply to everyone under 18 nationwide: operating forklifts, working with explosives or radioactive materials, roofing, excavation, demolition, logging, and using power-driven meat slicers, bakery equipment, woodworking machines, or metal-forming machines, among others.² The meat-slicer rule catches many teens off guard because it applies even in a deli or restaurant.

If you’re 14 or 15, the field narrows further. You can’t work in manufacturing, construction, warehousing, public utilities, or transportation. You can’t drive for work, operate power-driven machinery beyond typical office equipment, bake, use ladders or scaffolding, load or unload trucks, or work in a meat cooler or freezer. Cooking is restricted, though gas and electric grills without open flames and deep fryers with automatic basket-lowering devices are allowed.⁸

California adds its own bans for anyone under 16: no work around moving machinery, on railroads or commercial vessels, on construction scaffolding, in mines, quarries, or tunnels, or near dangerous chemicals and poisonous gases. Delivering goods from motor vehicles is also prohibited.⁹

Keeping Your Permit

The issuing authority can revoke your permit if the job starts hurting your health or your education, if the permit’s conditions are being violated, or if the work itself violates any labor law.¹⁰ In practice, that usually means grades or attendance have dropped since you started working.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Labor Commissioner also have independent authority to cancel a permit at any time if the conditions for legal issuance no longer exist or never existed.¹⁰ A district superintendent can revoke a permit originally issued by a principal within the district.⁴

If your permit is revoked, you must stop working immediately. There’s no grace period. Keeping your grades and attendance where they were before you took the job is the surest way to avoid it.

Entertainment Work Is a Different Process

If the job is in film, television, theater, radio, or a similar production, none of the above applies. Instead of going through your school, you apply directly to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement under Labor Code 1308.5.¹¹ There’s no minimum age; the process covers performers of any age, including infants.

You can apply online through the Division’s registration portal or by mail. The permit is valid for six months, and there’s no fee to apply or renew.¹² Older minors still need a school official to verify that grades and attendance are acceptable despite the production schedule. On set, California requires a certified studio teacher whenever minors are working, and the entertainment permit must be present on set at all times.¹³

1
Justia Law. California Labor Code 1390-1399 – Minors – Section 1391.2
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations
3
California Department of Education. Frequently Asked Questions: Work Permits
4
California Legislative Information. California Code EDC 49110 – Permits to Work
5
Department of Industrial Relations. Statement of Intent to Employ a Minor and Request for a Work Permit – Certificate of Age
6
State of California Department of Industrial Relations. Permit to Employ and Work
7
Justia Law. California Labor Code 1390-1399 – Minors – Section 1391
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor – Hazardous Occupations
9
California Department of Industrial Relations. Child Labor Laws Pamphlet
10
California Legislative Information. California Education Code 49164
11
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 1308.5 – Employment of Minors in Entertainment Industry
12
Labor Commissioner’s Office. Entertainment Work Permit for Minors
13
California Department of Industrial Relations. Section 11755 – Studio Teacher; Definition and Certification