California Minor Work Permit: Steps, Hours, and Restrictions

A California work permit for minors is issued by the student’s school, not a state agency, and getting one takes three signatures and a short review. Any worker under 18 who hasn’t graduated high school needs a Permit to Employ and Work before their first day on the job. The process: line up a specific job, fill out CDE Form B1-1 with your employer and a parent, and turn it in to your school’s authorized issuer. If your grades and attendance are in order, the school issues Form B1-4, and you can start working.

Who Needs a Permit

The requirement covers nearly every job a California minor might take. It applies year-round, including summer and holidays, and each permit is tied to one specific employer at one specific address. Change jobs and you start over with a new permit.¹

A few situations sit outside the permit system entirely:²

Self-employment, including tutoring, selling crafts online, or freelance work.
Self-employed newspaper carriers on a regular route, if the minor is at least 12.
Casual work in private homes: babysitting, mowing lawns, raking leaves, and similar odd jobs.
Domestic work for a parent or guardian on property the parent owns, operates, or controls.

If your work doesn’t fit one of those, assume you need the permit. Working without one creates legal problems for the employer, but it can still cost you the job.

The Four Steps

Step 1: Get a Job Offer First

You can’t apply in the abstract. The permit names the employer, the workplace address, the duties, and the hours, so you need an actual offer before starting the paperwork.³

Step 2: Complete CDE Form B1-1

Ask your school office for the “Statement of Intent to Employ a Minor and Request for a Work Permit,” known as CDE Form B1-1. Many districts also post it as a downloadable PDF. Three people have to sign it:⁴

The employer fills in the job description, expected hours, workplace address, and confirms workers’ compensation coverage.
You fill in your personal information and sign.
Your parent or legal guardian signs to consent.

All three signatures need to be on the form before you turn it in. The common holdup is the employer section. Bring the form to your hiring manager and explain that it’s required before you can legally start.

Step 3: Submit It to the School’s Authorized Issuer

Return the completed B1-1 to your school. The authorized issuer usually sits in the principal’s office, attendance office, or counseling department. Under Education Code Section 49110, permits may be issued by the district superintendent, a school principal or their designee, or a credentialed pupil personnel services professional.⁵ The issuer reviews your grades and attendance before signing off.

Since 2024, every minor submitting a B1-1 also receives a printed labor rights information sheet, a step added by Assembly Bill 800.³ Your school should hand it to you without prompting.

Step 4: Receive the Permit (Form B1-4)

Once approved, the school issues the “Permit to Employ and Work,” CDE Form B1-4. Copies go to the employer, the parent or guardian, and the school district.⁶ The permit spells out the specific duties, the work location, and the maximum hours you’re allowed to work. The employer must keep their copy on file and available for inspection at all times.¹

When School Is Out

The permit is still required during summer and school breaks. If your campus is closed or you’re between schools, contact the school district superintendent’s office where you live; the district can still issue the permit. Minors moving into California from another state should reach out to the local district where they’ll be staying, though whether that district issues a permit depends on local policy.⁷

Hours You Can Work

The limits depend on your age and whether school is in session. Employers are the ones legally responsible for staying inside them, but knowing the rules yourself keeps you from being scheduled illegally.

Ages 14 and 15

School days: up to 3 hours, and only outside school hours.
Non-school days: up to 8 hours.
School weeks: 18 hours total maximum.
Non-school weeks: up to 40 hours.
Time window: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., extended to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day.

Those limits come from California Labor Code Section 1391(a).² Students enrolled in Work Experience Education have a slightly higher weekly cap of 23 hours, with some of those hours allowed during school time.

Ages 16 and 17

School days: up to 4 hours (a school day is one with 4 or more hours of required attendance).
Non-school days: up to 8 hours.
Weekly maximum: 48 hours.
Time window: 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. on evenings before school days, extended to 12:30 a.m. on evenings before non-school days.

Work Experience Education enrollees with written permission may work until 12:30 a.m. on any evening, including school nights.²

Jobs the Permit Won’t Cover

Some occupations are off-limits regardless of what the employer or parent agrees to.

Children under 14 generally cannot hold traditional jobs in California at all. The main exception is entertainment work, which uses a separate permit system.⁷

Fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds face the widest bans: no manufacturing of any kind, no construction (including anything on scaffolding), no operating or assisting with power-driven machinery, no work on boats or near aircraft propellers. They can’t deliver goods from motor vehicles, work in occupations involving hazardous chemicals or dust, or hold most gas station positions beyond pumping gas and washing cars.² Door-to-door sales are allowed only in pairs with an adult supervisor nearby.

Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds can take a much wider range of jobs, but 17 federal Hazardous Occupation Orders still bar all minors under 18 from work involving explosives, mining, roofing, forklifts, cranes, meat-processing machinery, and commercial bakery equipment, among others.⁸ Where state and federal restrictions overlap, the stricter one applies. California Labor Code separately prohibits minors under 16 from operating machinery, working with belts or gearing, and employment on railroads or vessels.⁹

How You Can Lose the Permit

The permit is not permanent. The school can revoke it at any time if it decides the job is interfering with your education, if any condition of the permit is being violated, or if you’re doing work the law prohibits.⁵

What “interfering with education” means is partly a local call. Many districts require students to keep at least a 2.0 GPA and satisfactory attendance to hold onto their permit. If grades slip, the issuer doesn’t have to wait for the semester to end. The permit can be pulled mid-term, and the employer has to stop scheduling you right away.⁷

What You Get Paid

California does not allow a lower minimum wage for minors. As of January 1, 2026, the state minimum is $16.90 per hour, and it applies to workers of every age.¹⁰ Federal law technically lets employers pay workers under 20 as little as $4.25 per hour for their first 90 days, but the higher California rate overrides that for any job in the state.¹¹ Several California cities set local minimum wages above the state floor, so check your city’s ordinance too.

Entertainment Work Is Different

If the job is in film, television, commercials, music, or another entertainment field, the school-issued permit does not apply. Entertainment permits come from the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement instead.¹² First-time applicants can request a 10-day permit online for $50, and the standard 6-month permit is free. Minors between 14 and 17 have to complete sexual harassment prevention training before receiving one.

1
California Department of Industrial Relations. Child Labor Law Pamphlet
2
California Department of Industrial Relations. Minors Summary Charts
3
California Department of Education. Work Permits for Students
4
California Department of Industrial Relations. CDE Form B1-1 – Statement of Intent to Employ a Minor and Request for a Work Permit
5
California Legislative Information. California Education Code 49110 – Permits to Work
6
California Department of Education. CDE Form B1-4 – Permit to Employ and Work
7
California Department of Education. Work Permits FAQ
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations
9
Justia Law. California Labor Code 1290-1312
10
California Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage
11
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 32 – Youth Minimum Wage
12
California Department of Industrial Relations. Entertainment Work Permit