Can a 15-Year-Old Work at McDonald’s? Hours, Pay, and Permits

A 15-year-old can work at McDonald’s under federal law, and many locations do hire at that age, but whether a specific restaurant will hire you depends on the franchise owner’s policy and your state’s child labor rules. The Fair Labor Standards Act sets the minimum working age for non-agricultural jobs at 14, so 15-year-olds clear that threshold for food service.¹ When state law is stricter than federal law, the employer has to follow the stricter rule.

Why the Answer Depends on the Location

McDonald’s does not have a single company-wide minimum hiring age. Most McDonald’s restaurants are independently owned franchises, and each owner sets hiring policies for their own stores.² Some franchisees hire at 14 where the law allows. Others draw the line at 16 because scheduling around younger teens’ hour restrictions is more work than they want to take on. The only reliable way to find out is to ask the restaurant directly or check their listing on the McDonald’s careers site.

How Many Hours You Can Work

The schedule rules are where 15-year-olds feel the tightest squeeze. Federal law splits the year into school weeks and non-school weeks and caps hours accordingly:³

School days, including Fridays: no more than 3 hours
School weeks: no more than 18 hours total
Non-school days: up to 8 hours
Non-school weeks: up to 40 hours
Work must fall between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when the evening cutoff extends to 9 p.m.¹

All work has to happen outside school hours, meaning the hours your local public school district is in session during the regular school year. Summer school sessions don’t count for this purpose, so you can work during those periods.³

States often go further. Some cap weekly school-year hours below 18, set earlier evening curfews, or limit how many days a week you can work.⁴ Check your state department of labor’s website so you know what your real ceiling is.

One point on breaks: federal law doesn’t require meal or rest breaks for any worker, minors included.¹ Many states do require them for workers under 18, typically a 30-minute meal break after four or five consecutive hours. That mostly matters on weekend or summer shifts, since school-day shifts max out at 3 hours anyway.

What You’ll Actually Be Allowed to Do

At McDonald’s, the roles open to 15-year-olds are the ones grouped under the “crew member” title: cashiering, taking orders, bagging food, cleaning the dining area, stocking, sweeping, and mopping.⁵

Kitchen work is more limited. You can cook on electric or gas grills as long as there’s no open flame. Deep fryers are allowed if the equipment has automatic basket-lowering devices that raise and lower the food mechanically, which most modern McDonald’s fryers do. High-speed ovens, rotisseries, pressure cookers, open-flame equipment, and any baking are off-limits. You also can’t operate power-driven food slicers, grinders, choppers, or mixers, and that ban covers setting them up, adjusting them, cleaning them, or repairing them.⁶

A few other tasks are prohibited by federal law:

If a manager asks you to do something on this list, you can say no. The rules exist for your safety, not the manager’s convenience.

What You’ll Be Paid

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, and it applies to teenagers the same way it applies to adults. Many states set higher minimum wages, and your employer has to pay the higher of the two.⁸

Watch for one exception. Federal law allows employers to pay a youth minimum wage of $4.25 per hour to workers under 20 during their first 90 calendar days on the job.⁹ Most McDonald’s locations pay at or above the regular minimum to stay competitive, and several states prohibit the youth subminimum outright. Ask about the starting rate during the interview so your first paycheck doesn’t surprise you. Pay frequency isn’t set by federal law, so whether you’re paid weekly or biweekly depends on the franchise.

Work Permits and Applying

Roughly 36 states require minors under 16 to get a work permit, sometimes called an employment certificate or working papers, before starting a job.¹⁰ Even where the state doesn’t require one, McDonald’s may ask for proof of age before scheduling you.

The process varies by state but usually looks similar: proof of age like a birth certificate, written parental consent, and confirmation you’re enrolled in school. Some states won’t issue the permit until you have a job offer in hand. Permits are typically handled through your school’s guidance office or your local labor department, and most are free or nearly free. The form usually has sections for you, your parent, and the employer to complete.

McDonald’s takes applications online at jobs.mchire.com, where a virtual assistant walks you through open positions near you and can sometimes schedule an interview during the same session.¹¹ Some restaurants also take walk-in applications, so stopping in to ask about openings is still worth a try.

Be honest about your availability. Listing hours outside the legal limits won’t win you extra shifts; it flags a compliance problem. Bring your work permit to the interview if your state requires one, and expect to fill out Form I-9 for identity and work authorization. If you don’t have a driver’s license or state ID, a parent or guardian can help establish your identity, though locations that use E-Verify will need a photo ID from the approved document list along with a work authorization document.¹²

1
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations
2
McDonald’s. How Old Do You Have to Be to Work at McDonald’s?
3
eCFR. 29 CFR 570.35 – Hours of Work and Conditions of Employment Permitted for Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Selected State Child Labor Standards Affecting Minors Under 18 in Non-Farm Employment
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor – Prohibited Occupations for Non-Agricultural Employees
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #58: Cooking and Baking under the Federal Child Labor Provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Non-Agricultural Jobs – 14-15
8
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #32: Youth Minimum Wage – Fair Labor Standards Act
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Employment/Age Certificate
11
McDonald’s. McDonald’s Restaurant Careers in the US
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 4.2 Minors (Individuals under Age 18)