Children under 16 not forbidden from walking in kitchen in AZ

The Department of Labor (DOL) and Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) are charged with the enforcement and administration of youth employment laws. Youth laws place restrictions on the types of jobs minors can perform and the times or hours some minors can work. The ICA often interprets Arizona law in a way to be more restrictive about hazardous positions than the DOL, even though the child labor statutes were modeled after their federal counterparts. It’s a rare for the Arizona Court of Appeals to issue an opinion on youth employment laws, but it did just that to reject the ICA’s strict interpretation of the prohibition of hiring minors under 16 to “work in, about, or in connection with [both] cooking and baking.” This decision could have a broader reach in other industries because the ICA strict interpretation was far reaching.

Anonymous tip

In 2018, an anonymous tipster reported to the ICA that a family-owned Latin American restaurant hired children “under the age of 16” for jobs requiring them to be in or around the kitchen. The ICA notified the restaurant it had been made aware of a possible violation of state youth employment laws and initiated an investigation.

The investigation revealed the restaurant had three employees under 16 years old who worked as hosts and who were responsible for greeting and seating guests. The hosts had no hand in cooking, baking, or food preparation. They did assist with bussing duties, which required them to transport dirty dishes to the kitchen.

Child labor violations