An overview of the main compliance areas for US restaurants: food safety, licenses, wage and hour rules, tips, minors, scheduling laws, safety, accessibility and records.
Restaurants combine food handling, alcohol, tipped employees, young workers, late hours and high turnover, and each brings its own rules. Most of them are enforced locally: health departments inspect, state labor agencies investigate wage complaints and cities run their own scheduling and minimum wage laws. A restaurant group with locations in two cities may face two quite different rulebooks. This guide is an overview to help you build your own checklist, not a full statement of the law.
| Area | What to check |
|---|---|
| Minimum wage | Highest of federal, state and local rates; many change on January 1 or July 1 |
| Tip credit | Whether your state allows it, the cash wage, notice to employees and that tips make up the difference |
| Tip pools and tip-outs | Who can share in tips; managers and owners generally cannot keep employees’ tips. See tip-out guide |
| Overtime | Hours over 40 in a workweek, daily overtime in some states, regular rate including differentials |
| Breaks | State meal and rest break rules and premiums for missed breaks |
| Split shifts and reporting time | Premiums in some states. See split shifts |
| Pay records and stubs | Hours, rates, tips and deductions recorded and shown as required |
See our restaurant payroll basics and time tracking for tipped employees.
Restaurants employ many teenagers. Federal child labor rules limit hours and times of day for 14- and 15-year-olds and prohibit hazardous tasks for under-18s, including operating certain power-driven equipment such as some slicers and mixers, and many states add stricter rules and work permit requirements. Serving or selling alcohol has its own minimum age rules by state. See our child labor laws guide.
Several cities and states have fair workweek or predictive scheduling laws that cover restaurant employers above certain sizes, often chains. They can require posting schedules in advance, offering extra hours to existing staff before hiring, premium pay for late changes and rest between closing and opening shifts. If you have locations in these areas, build the rules into how you schedule.
Kitchens carry real risks: burns, cuts, slips, lifting injuries and chemical exposure. OSHA’s general duty clause and specific standards apply, including hazard communication for cleaning chemicals. Train staff, keep floors dry, provide protective equipment such as cut-resistant gloves, maintain equipment and keep an injury log as required for your business. Workers’ compensation insurance is required in most states once you have employees. See workers’ compensation and kitchen cleaning checklist.
Restaurants are public accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which affects entrances, restrooms, seating and service, including service animals. Employment discrimination and harassment laws apply to hiring, scheduling, pay and conduct at work. Harassment prevention training is required for employers in some states.
Health inspections are usually unannounced, and wage-and-hour investigations often begin with a request for records. Prepare in advance: know where licenses, logs, training certificates and time and payroll records are kept, and make sure the manager on duty knows too. During an inspection, be cooperative and professional, accompany the inspector and take notes. Fix anything that can be fixed on the spot. Afterward, review the report with the team, correct the issues and record what was done. For labor investigations, it is usually wise to involve an employment attorney early.
For restaurant groups, keep a compliance sheet per location listing the city and state rules that apply: minimum wage, tip credit, breaks, scheduling law, paid sick leave and health department contacts. Rules that apply in one city may not apply a few miles away. Review the sheets each January and July, when many rate changes take effect.
| Frequency | Tasks |
|---|---|
| Daily | Temperature and cleaning logs, opening and closing checklists, breaks recorded |
| Weekly | Timecard review and approval, tip reports, schedule posted on time |
| Monthly | Self-inspection against health code, training records updated |
| Quarterly | Payroll tax filings reviewed, wage rate check |
| Annually | License and permit renewals, minimum wage updates, poster updates, policy review |
Assign each line to a named person, and use checklists that record who completed them and when. See our restaurant manager daily checklist.
EZTime supports the wage and hour side of restaurant compliance: clock-ins and breaks recorded from a kiosk or the mobile app, labor rule alerts for overtime and missed breaks, tip pooling records and schedules published in advance. Task checklists can hold daily food safety and opening and closing routines. See EZTime for restaurants.
See meal and rest break laws by state and tip pooling calculator.
Each location may sit in a different city or county with its own health department, minimum wage or scheduling rules. Keep a short profile for each site listing its licenses, local rules and renewal dates. Standardize training and records across sites, but let managers flag local differences. See predictive scheduling laws.
Assign one person to own the compliance calendar, with a backup. Compliance tasks slip most often when everyone assumes someone else is watching the renewal dates.
Tick each item already in place.
0 of 6. Compliance gaps are likely. Start with a renewal calendar and records.
Food safety, licenses and permits, wage and hour rules including tips, child labor, scheduling laws, workplace safety, accessibility and recordkeeping.
Under federal law, managers and supervisors generally cannot keep employees’ tips. State rules may be stricter.
In several cities and states, yes, for covered employers, often larger chains. Check each location.
Federal rules prohibit under-18s from operating certain hazardous equipment, and many states add restrictions. Check before assigning tasks.
It depends on the local health department and the risk level of the operation.
Time and payroll records, tip records, I-9s, training records, food safety logs and inspection reports, for the required periods.
EZTime’s labor rule alerts warn about weekly hour limits, short rest between shifts, overtime thresholds and employees who forgot to clock out.