Labor Department offers free youth employment webinars ahead of summer hiring season

Pizza Hut franchise managers heading into summer are facing a familiar pressure point: a rush of teen hires, thinner crews and more chances for a small scheduling mistake to become a federal case. The U.S. Department of Labor said on May 8 that its Wage and Hour Division would host free May webinars on youth-employment compliance ahead of the summer hiring season, and the agency said the sessions are aimed at employers, young workers, parents, school counselors and human resources staff.

For Pizza Hut operators, the warning lands close to the store level. The Labor Department said the webinars will cover child labor laws, OSHA heat illness prevention, veterans’ employment rights and other compliance topics under the Fair Labor Standards Act. That matters in pizza shops, where teens are often brought in for closing shifts, weekend coverage and part-time work when school lets out.

The three mistakes most likely to trip up summer hiring are late-night scheduling, hazardous-task assignments and poor timekeeping. Federal youth-employment rules generally set the minimum age for non-agricultural work at 14, restrict the hours workers under 16 may work and bar workers under 18 from hazardous occupations. In a restaurant, that means managers need to watch when a shift runs too late, what a minor is asked to do on a busy line, and whether the clock-in and clock-out records accurately reflect the hours worked.

The Labor Department’s restaurant guidance covers restaurants and quick-service establishments that employ workers under 18, and its youth-worker materials say state child labor laws can be stricter than federal law. That puts extra weight on local franchise management, where one store may be operating under a tighter state rule than another location in the same brand.

The enforcement record shows why the agency is treating summer hiring as a compliance season. In fiscal year 2021, the department said it found 2,819 minors employed in violation and assessed nearly $3.4 million in civil money penalties. Between Oct. 1, 2022 and July 20, 2023, it said it concluded 765 child labor cases, found 4,474 children employed in violation and assessed more than $6.6 million in penalties.

Pizza brands have already been caught in that dragnet. In 2023, the department said two Cincinnati-area pizza restaurants were fined $30,000 after minors under 16 were found using manual fryers, gas ovens with open flames, a broiler/conveyor oven and dough equipment. In 2024, a Blaze Fast Fire’d Pizza franchisee in Nevada faced $277,414 in penalties, and a Marco’s Pizza franchisee in Knoxville was hit with a $207,000 penalty and an enhanced compliance agreement after employing 20 children to clean and disassemble dough sheeters and work outside legally allowed hours.

OSHA says young workers may be more at risk for heat illness than other groups, and its guidance urges employers to train everyone on symptoms and prevention. For Pizza Hut kitchens, where summer staffing often turns into a daily scramble, the message is plain: a teen hire can solve a shift hole, but a bad schedule, a dangerous assignment or sloppy timekeeping can turn that fix into a wage claim, a staffing disruption or a federal investigation.