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The law permits you to employ persons eighteen (18) years of age or older to serve alcoholic beverages. Minors who are sixteen (16) and seventeen (17) years of age may be employed to serve food, clear tables, and perform other duties that do not include the serving of alcoholic beverages. Minors under sixteen (16) years of age cannot be employed on retail licensed premises except under a narrow exception involving ski resorts, golf courses, continuing care retirement facilities, and amusement park licensees.
A seventeen (17)-year-old minor can be treated as though he or she was eighteen (18) years old for purposes of employment if he or she is a high school graduate or if he or she has been declared to have attained his or her academic potential by the chief administrator of the school district where the minor resides. In these cases, you must have in your possession on the licensed premises, to be produced upon demand, a certified copy of the diploma or certificate of graduation, or a letter on the official stationary of the minor’s school district and over the signature of the chief administrator of the school district, declaring that the minor has attained his or her academic potential.
Please note that the employment of minors is generally a concern of the Department of Labor and Industry and you may wish to contact it regarding employment of minors in general.
