What Jobs Can a 14-Year-Old Get in Texas: Hours, Pay, Paperwork

A 14-year-old in Texas can get a job in retail, food service, offices, car washes, and basic cleanup work, but federal and state law limit which tasks they can do, how late they can stay, and how many hours they can work in a week. The rules come from two overlapping systems, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Texas Labor Code Chapter 51, and employers have to follow whichever one is stricter.1Texas Workforce Commission. Texas Child Labor Law For most Texas employers, that means the federal rules during the school year.

What Jobs a 14-Year-Old Can Hold

Federal regulations list the specific occupations open to 14- and 15-year-olds. The list is narrower than most families expect, but it covers the entry-level roles teens actually apply for:2eCFR. 29 CFR 570.34 – Occupations That May Be Performed by Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age

  • Retail and sales: cashiering, stocking shelves, bagging groceries, window trimming, and comparative shopping.
  • Office and clerical: filing, data entry, answering phones, and running copiers and computers.
  • Food service: busing tables, hosting, dishwashing, taking orders, and limited cooking on electric or gas grills without an open flame. Teens can operate dishwashers, toasters, blenders, coffee machines, and microwaves used only to warm food.
  • Cleanup: vacuuming, floor waxing, and grounds work with hand tools only, no power mowers, trimmers, or edgers.
  • Car care: hand-washing, polishing, and vacuuming vehicle interiors at gas stations or car washes, with no pit work, no lifts, and no tire inflation on split-rim wheels.

Food service is where parents get tripped up. A 14-year-old can cook on a flat grill and even use a deep fryer, but only if the fryer has an automatic basket that lowers and raises itself. Manual dipping into hot oil is out. Rotisseries, broilers, pressurized fryers, and other high-temperature commercial cooking devices are all off-limits.2eCFR. 29 CFR 570.34 – Occupations That May Be Performed by Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age Cleaning kitchen equipment and handling grease is allowed only when surfaces and liquids are below 100°F.

Jobs and Tasks That Are Off-Limits

The prohibited list is long, and the pattern is simple: anything with heavy machinery, dangerous environments, or adult-level responsibility. A 14-year-old in Texas cannot work in:3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the FLSA for Nonagricultural Occupations

  • Manufacturing or mining of any kind.
  • Construction, warehousing, or transportation jobs, including operating forklifts or freight elevators.
  • Any power-driven machinery other than office machines. That rules out lawn mowers, meat slicers, and saws.
  • Baking operations of any type.
  • Work from ladders, scaffolds, or elevated platforms.
  • Freezers and meat coolers, beyond briefly stepping in to grab an item.
  • Communications and public utilities occupations.

Texas adds its own ban: door-to-door sales are prohibited for anyone under 18.4Texas Workforce Commission. WHCL-70 Child Labor Poster Sign waving and youth peddling are prohibited under federal rules as well.

How Many Hours a 14-Year-Old Can Work

Both the FLSA and Texas Labor Code Chapter 51 set hour limits. Federal rules are stricter during the school year, and almost every Texas employer that hires teens is FLSA-covered, so those are the numbers your teen will actually live with.

Federal Limits

Under the FLSA, a 14- or 15-year-old may only work outside of school hours and within these caps:3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the FLSA for Nonagricultural Occupations

  • No more than 3 hours on a school day.
  • No more than 8 hours on a non-school day.
  • No more than 18 hours in a school week.
  • No more than 40 hours in a summer week (June 1 through Labor Day).
  • Work must end by 7:00 p.m. during the school year, pushed to 9:00 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day.

Texas State Limits

Texas law covers businesses not reached by the FLSA. The state caps are more generous and only kick in at the small number of purely intrastate employers without FLSA coverage:5Texas Workforce Commission. Child Labor – Texas Guidebook for Employers

  • 8 hours per day.
  • 48 hours per week.
  • No work between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. before a school day.
  • No work between midnight and 5:00 a.m. before a non-school day or during the summer.

If there is any doubt about which rules apply, follow the federal ones.

Pay

Texas uses the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and has no state-level increase.6U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws That is the baseline for teen employees, and Texas has no special lower rate for minors.

Federal law does allow a youth training wage of $4.25 per hour, but only during the first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment for workers under 20.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 32 – Youth Minimum Wage – Fair Labor Standards Act Those 90 days are counted on the calendar, not by days actually worked, so a teen hired on June 1 who works only weekends still runs out the training period by late August. Large employers like grocery chains and fast-food restaurants usually pay at least regular minimum wage from day one, but smaller businesses sometimes use the training rate. Ask about pay before accepting an offer.

Neither Texas nor federal law requires employers to give meal or rest breaks to anyone, including minors. If an employer does offer a short break of 5 to 20 minutes, federal law requires that time to be paid.

Paperwork Before the First Day

Texas does not issue a work permit the way some other states do. Instead, the Texas Workforce Commission uses a certificate of age, which proves the teen meets the minimum age for the job. The form is the Application for Certificate of Age, WHCL-72, and you can download it from the TWC website.8Texas Workforce Commission. WHCL-72 Application for Certificate of Age Filling it out requires the teen’s full legal name, address, a parent or guardian signature, and proof of age such as a birth certificate or U.S. passport. The certificate also protects the employer: if an underage worker slips through, the employer can show they relied in good faith on a valid certificate.9Texas Workforce Commission. Summary of the Texas Child Labor Law

Every new hire in the United States, regardless of age, also has to complete Form I-9 to verify identity and work authorization. The teen fills out Section 1 on or before the first day of work, and the employer completes Section 2 within three business days after checking the documents.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification For a 14-year-old, acceptable documents include a U.S. passport, or a birth certificate paired with a school ID, or another combination from the I-9’s approved lists.

If the Job Is a Family Business

The rules above apply when a teen works for someone else. When a 14-year-old works for a business entirely owned by their parents, the limits loosen. Under federal law, children of any age can work for a parent-owned business, with two exceptions: no one under 16 can work in manufacturing or mining, and no one under 18 can perform work the Secretary of Labor has declared hazardous.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the FLSA for Nonagricultural Occupations

Taxes work differently too. When a child under 18 works for a parent’s sole proprietorship or a partnership where both partners are the child’s parents, the wages are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes.11Internal Revenue Service. Family Employees If the parent’s business is a corporation, including an S-corp, that exemption goes away and FICA applies normally.

If a Teen Gets Hurt on the Job

A 14-year-old injured at work in Texas has the same right to workers’ compensation benefits as an adult, as long as the employer carries coverage. Texas does not require private employers to carry workers’ comp, but most large employers that hire teens do. The main practical difference is that benefits are paid to the custodial parent or guardian rather than directly to the minor.12Legal Information Institute. 28 Texas Admin Code 126.2 – Payment of Benefits to Minors A parent can authorize direct payment to the teen in writing, and the minor can also petition for direct payment through the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation. Once the worker turns 18, benefits shift to them automatically.

Report any injury to the employer right away. Texas gives employees 30 days to report, and missing that deadline can sink the claim. The employer’s insurance carrier handles the case from there, with the parent or guardian managing it on the teen’s behalf until adulthood.