When Can You Get a Job in Florida: Ages, Hours, and Restricted Jobs

In Florida, you have to be at least 14 years old to hold most jobs. A handful of narrow exceptions let younger children work in specific situations such as a parent’s business, the entertainment industry, or as pages in the state Legislature, but for a typical first job at a store, restaurant, or office, 14 is the floor.¹ Once you’re old enough to work, Florida layers on rules about how many hours you can put in, when you can be scheduled, and which jobs are off-limits until you turn 16 or 18.

The Age 14 Rule and Who Can Work Younger

Children 13 and younger are generally prohibited from working in any paid job in Florida.¹ The exceptions are specific:

Working for your own parents or guardians in domestic or farm work tied to your home or the family farm, outside school hours.
Serving as a page in the Florida Legislature.
Working in the entertainment industry (motion pictures, television, theater, music, still photography, circuses, and rodeos), as long as the employer first gets a permit from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.²
Herding, tending, or managing livestock during non-school hours.

One more age floor: children 10 and younger cannot sell or distribute newspapers.¹ And none of these rules change if a minor is emancipated by marriage or court order; the child labor statutes apply regardless.

Hours You Can Work at 14 or 15

If you’re 14 or 15, Florida keeps your schedule tightly controlled during the school year. You can work no more than 15 hours a week and no more than 3 hours on a school day, unless there’s no school the following day.³ Shifts cannot start before 7 a.m. or run past 7 p.m. on any night before a school day. You also can’t work during school hours.

Summer vacation and holidays loosen things considerably. During breaks, 14- and 15-year-olds can work up to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.³

Florida’s school-week cap of 15 hours is stricter than the federal 18-hour limit, so the state rule controls.⁴ When the two sets of rules disagree, whichever one is more protective of the minor wins.

Hours You Can Work at 16 or 17

At 16 and 17, your options expand but still have limits during the school year. You can’t be scheduled before 6:30 a.m. or after 11 p.m. on nights before a school day, daily hours are capped at 8 on those days (holidays and Sundays aside), and the weekly cap is 30 hours.³ Work during school hours on a school day isn’t allowed.

A parent, custodian, or school superintendent can sign a waiver letting a 16- or 17-year-old go over the 30-hour weekly cap. The waiver uses a form from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the employer keeps it on file.³

During summer and non-school weeks, there’s no weekly cap and no time-of-day limit for this age group.⁵

Several 16- and 17-year-olds are fully exempt from the scheduling rules: high school graduates (including GED holders), minors with a certificate of exemption from the school superintendent, hardship cases cleared by the superintendent, and students in home education or an approved virtual instruction program. Domestic workers, teens working for a parent, and legislative pages are also exempt from the hour rules.⁶

Jobs You Can’t Take Until You’re Older

Being old enough to work doesn’t mean every job is open to you. Florida bans minors from a long list of hazardous occupations, and the list shrinks as you age up.

Prohibited for Workers 15 and Younger

If you’re 15 or younger, you can’t work with power-driven machinery (push mowers with blades of 40 inches or less are the main exception), in manufacturing with industrial machines, or with explosive or highly flammable materials.⁷ Also off-limits: sawmills and logging, any scaffolding, heavy building-trade work, and power-driven laundry or dry-cleaning equipment.

Driving for work is barred, with narrow exceptions for licensed motor scooters and, for 14- and 15-year-olds, farm tractors operated under close supervision after completing a tractor safety course.⁷ Spray painting, meat or vegetable slicing machines, elevator repair, work in freezers or meat coolers (wrapping and labeling in a separate area is fine), door-to-door sales of items like magazine subscriptions or candy, and alligator wrestling are also prohibited.

Prohibited for Workers Under 18

Even at 16 or 17, some occupations stay closed. Minors under 18 can’t work around explosive or radioactive materials, on scaffolding, roofs, or ladders above six feet, or in residential or commercial building construction.⁷ They also can’t operate power-driven bakery machines, metal-forming equipment, woodworking machines, or hoisting equipment like forklifts.⁸ Mining, slaughtering and meat packing, wrecking and demolition, trenching and excavation, and operating heavy farm equipment such as tractors over 20 PTO horsepower or earthmoving machinery are all prohibited. Some of these rules have a carve-out for students enrolled in approved career education programs as student learners.

Workplaces That Are Off-Limits to Anyone Under 18

No one 17 or younger can work at a business that sells alcoholic beverages at retail, except in limited roles authorized under Florida’s beverage law such as busing tables at a restaurant that also serves alcohol.¹ Adult theaters are also closed to anyone under 18. Emancipation doesn’t change either rule.

No Work Permit Required

Florida does not make minors get a work permit or employment certificate before starting a job.⁹ Instead, the employer has to verify your age and keep proof on file for the entire time you work there. Acceptable documents include:

A photocopy of your birth certificate
A photocopy of your driver license
An age certificate from the district school board
A photocopy of a passport or visa showing your date of birth

Employers are also required to post a Child Labor Law notice at the worksite, available from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.¹⁰

What You’ll Be Paid

Florida’s minimum wage is $14.00 per hour as of 2026, and it applies to workers of any age, including 14- and 15-year-olds.¹¹ Federal law allows a youth subminimum wage of $4.25 per hour for workers under 20 during their first 90 calendar days on the job,¹² but in Florida the higher state minimum controls, so a Florida employer paying only the federal subminimum would be in violation.

When the Rules Stop Applying

On your 18th birthday, every Florida child labor restriction ends. No hour caps, no school-based scheduling rules, no age-based occupation bans. You can take construction work, tend bar (Florida requires 18 to serve alcohol), operate heavy machinery, and set your own schedule.⁶ If you graduate high school or finish a GED at 16 or 17, the hour limits drop early, but the hazardous-occupation list still applies until you turn 18.

If an employer is asking you to work hours or do tasks that don’t line up with these rules, the employer is the one breaking the law. Violations are enforced by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation at the state level and the U.S. Department of Labor federally.

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 450.021 – Minimum Age General
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 450.132 – Employment of Minors by the Entertainment Industry
3
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 450.081 – Hours of Work in Certain Occupations
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor – Hours of Work
5
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Child Labor Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
6
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes Chapter 450 – Child Labor Law
7
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 450.061 – Hazardous Occupations Prohibited Exemptions
8
U.S. Department of Labor. What Jobs Are Off-Limits for Kids
9
Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Child Labor FAQs
10
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 450.045 – Proof of Identity and Age Posting of Notices
11
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
12
U.S. Department of Labor. Subminimum Wage