Hiring a 14 or 15-year-old in a BC restaurant: light work, parental consent and what is excluded

A teenager's first job is often in a restaurant, and British Columbia has a specific, short list of what a 14 or 15-year-old may do. It is in the Employment Standards Act and the Employment Standards Regulation. Get it wrong and you have employed a child in breach of the Act.

What does the Act say?

Section 9 says a person must not employ a child who is under 14 without the director's permission. A child who is 14 or 15 may be employed to perform light work only with the written consent of the child's parent or guardian. For any other work a 14 or 15-year-old needs the director's permission. The director can set conditions of employment, and an employer must comply with them.

What is light work in a restaurant?

The regulation prescribes work at premises preparing, selling or serving food or beverages:

• preparing food
• busing tables
• dishwashing
• hosting duties
• setting up and taking down tables, chairs, trays, dishes, beverage dispensers and other dining room or buffet equipment, furniture and supplies

It also prescribes "server of food or drink or both" as an occupation, along with cashier and salesperson (other than a door-to-door salesperson), and cleaning and tidying, among other tasks. So the usual roles in a café, such as counter, cashier, runner, busser and dish pit, are on the list.

What is not light work?

Section 45.24 says work or an occupation that involves any of the following is not light work:

• repairing, maintaining or operating machinery, tools or other equipment that could harm the health or development of a 14 or 15-year-old
• entering or working at a place a minor is not legally permitted to enter or work
• working at a site of construction, heavy manufacturing or heavy industrial work
• handling, preparing, selling, serving or otherwise being in contact with a good or service that a minor cannot legally distribute, purchase, use or consume
• lifting, carrying or moving an item or animal if it puts the child at risk of a musculoskeletal injury
• using, handling or being exposed to a hazardous substance as defined in the Workers Compensation Act

For a restaurant, the fourth item is the one that matters. A teenager who serves or handles alcohol, or works in a bar, is outside light work. The first and fifth point at a commercial slicer or a deep fryer, and at heavy cleaning chemicals. Having a 15-year-old lift full stockpots or heavy kegs is the third kind of risk.

Is there an exception for family businesses?

Section 45.21 says section 9 (2) does not apply to a child 12 to under 16 if the employer does not require or allow the child to perform work listed in section 45.24, and a member of the child's immediate family is a controlling shareholder, sole proprietor or partner of the business that employs the child. So a family restaurant is treated differently, but the exclusions in section 45.24 still apply.

Why does the parent's consent matter?

Section 9 requires it in writing for light work by a 14 or 15-year-old, and the written consent is what you show an inspector if the Employment Standards Branch asks. A text from a parent is not as good as a signed note. Put a one-page form in your hiring pack that names the child, the business, the job and the type of work, and have the parent sign and date it. File it with the child's age record. Keep it for as long as you keep the rest of the payroll records.

What do you do before the first shift?

1. Check the child's age and keep the record.
2. Get the parent or guardian's consent in writing, and keep it.
3. Write a task list that stays inside the regulation.
4. Train on knives, slips, hot surfaces, lifting and hand-washing, and write it down.
5. Keep alcohol, the slicer, the fryer and the walk-in lifting off the list.
6. If the work is not on the light list, ask the Employment Standards Branch for permission first.

Children under 14 have their own rules in the regulation. If you are hiring a 12 or 13-year-old, call the Branch. WorkSafeBC also has its own rules for young and new workers: see WorkSafeBC registration and safety for BC restaurants.

For the wage side, see BC minimum wage for restaurants, and for your job ads, pay transparency.

More in the Canadian guides for food businesses.