An Introduction To The Legal Age For Serving Alcohol
Understanding the legal age to serve alcohol at restaurants, bars, and events is crucial for employers and employees in the hospitality and service industry across the United States. These laws have a significant impact on how service staff are trained and managed, and they can vary widely from state to state. Employers must not only know the legal age to serve but also the extent and limits of that service. For example, while one state may allow someone to serve alcohol as young as 18 years old, another state may require servers to be 21 years old. Understanding the legal ramifications of these laws is essential to avoid costly fines and other legal issues.
These laws around the legal state age to serve alcohol are rooted in a variety of factors, including public health and safety, cultural norms, and historical context. The legal age to serve alcohol is also often tied to the legal drinking age within a state . While the legal drinking age is 21 years old nationwide, some states allow employees as young as 16 years old to work at establishments where alcohol is served. Failure to comply with these laws can lead to serious consequences for both the employer and the employee. In some states, serving alcohol to someone underage or gaining knowledge that a server is underage can result in misdemeanor charges, fines, and the loss of a bartender’s or server’s license. For employers, employing someone underage in a position where they serve alcohol can cause businesses to face severe punishments. The establishment may face fines, the revocation of its liquor license, as well as civil and criminal penalties.
It is important to note that while the legal age to serve alcohol may be similar to the legal drinking age in most states, there is a difference between the two, so always check your state laws.
The Legal Age For Serving Alcohol by State
To provide a clearer sense of what age you must be to serve as a bartender in your state, here is a breakdown of the age requirements across the nation (states that have different requirements for different types of establishments are noted within their respective entries).
Alaska: 21
Arizona: 19
Arkansas: 21
California: 18
Colorado: 18
Connecticut: 18
Delaware: 18
District of Columbia: 18
Florida: 18-20 in certain situations
Georgia: 18
Hawaii: 21 (Note: Bartenders must be at least 20 years old on the island of Waianae, where liquor laws are stricter than the rest of the state.)
Idaho: 19
Illinois: 18
Indiana: 21
Iowa: 18
Kansas: 18
Kentucky: 20
Louisiana: 18 (must be 21 to serve in establishments that sell alcohol for consumption in a cup)
Maine: 18
Maryland: 18
Massachusetts: 18
Michigan: 18
Minnesota: 18
Mississippi: 21
Missouri: 18
Montana: 18
Nebraska: 21
Nevada: 21
New Hampshire: 18
New Jersey: 18
New Mexico: 21
New York: 18
North Dakota: 21
Ohio: 18
Oklahoma: 18
Oregon: 18
Pennsylvania: 18
Rhode Island: 18
South Dakota: 21
Tennessee: 18
Texas: 18
Utah: 18
Vermont: 18
Virginia: 18
Washington: 18
West Virginia: 18
Wisconsin: 18
Wyoming: 18
Key Factors That Determines What Each State’s Legal Age for Serving Alcohol Is
Several socio-economic, cultural, and legal factors combine to influence why states have different minimum age requirements. For example, states that have a tourism-driven economy tend to be more lenient in this area. Hospitality industry employees, such as bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, are typically the most impacted. This is due to the fact that the hospitality industry often hires younger employees, even at minimum wage rates, to allow for a walking, breathing advertisement for their business. States like Florida and California, which have higher tourist populations than resident populations, are influenced heavily by these types of businesses. They typically adopt a later drinking age in order to accommodate those bumper sticker wearing young adults who will be driving around (driving while drinking) and going out on the town for a night on the town.
However, this must be balanced against the social values that exist in these communities that sometimes conflict with the need for an employee pool. For example, states like Utah and Kansas have restrictive alcohol statutes that both ban happy hours and outsource bar staff to a government-run state liquor store. Many local businesses have had to close their doors due to underemployment rates and high overhead, while others fight for survival in a harsh economic climate. Other states are influenced by alcohol advocacy groups, scientific studies, public opinion, and industry concerns. A state can look to the CDC’s changes in youth alcohol use, which reports that every year 4,700 youth are killed in alcohol related traffic crashes. Most of these traffic fatalities occur on the weekends, when people are out enjoying themselves and drinking more. In comparison to Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont, the strictest alcohol statutes in the country, which all set the minimum drinking age at 18 and are not subject to state laws, the facts find a fairly flexible and higher minimum age requirement. The National Institute of Health suggests a moderate drinking level, so this must be balanced against the fact that there is no distinction in serving a drink and purchasing a drink.
Legal Age For Serving Vs. Legal Age For Drinking
Although the legal age of consumption is 21 nationwide, there is no single legal age under which a bartender or server in the United States must be to serve alcohol. In fact, a dozen states set the minimum serving age at 18 or 19. Of those states, some (Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Nebraska, South Carolina, and West Virginia) have a legal consumption age of 21, while others (Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, New Jersey, and North Dakota) have a legal consumption age of 18.
Unlike many states’ retail sales laws—which require sellers to be of a certain age—most selling and consumption laws are enacted on the local level. Some local governments actually raise the minimum legal age to serve alcoholic beverages well past age 21: the minimum serving age in Los Angeles County is 25, in San Francisco it is 28, and in New York City it stands at 23.
Why such vast variations? While some municipalities have a history of the minimum ages for serving plans and other variance in laws, other differences are simply a matter of municipal choice. The state minimum age to sell and serve alcohol is affected by local laws that are not necessarily consistent with the statewide minimum. At least 10 states have local or county provisions that increase the minimum legal age beyond that set by the state.
In locations that set local requirements, there is no standard when applied to hotel and restaurant employees. The minimum age to serve alcohol in a hotel, for example, may differ from the minimum age under applicable laws for the service in a restaurant.
Employed by A Food Business, What Are Your Responsibilities Regarding These Laws
Both federal and state laws have established a legal age for server alcohol in the United States, with the minimum most often being 21. While this is a common practice across venues, the responsibility for enforcing the law of the land falls to the venue itself, meaning it’s also the venue’s job to ensure that no underage servers are working. This is a daily responsibility, and one that requires diligence every day, as some 18- and 19-year-olds will age out of being considered underage while others come of age at various times throughout the day; there is no blackout period for legal ages in service, so that means that an employee who was at the right age when he or she began working a bar shift, may be underage by the time his or her shift is over.
In addition to issues that can arise when an employee is underage, there’s also the potential for what you do to employees that are found to be underage, or that are suspected to be underage. If it’s clear that an employee isn’t legal to serve alcohol, they should be immediately dismissed, and a report should be filed with your state’s liquor control board. This should be the general practice if an employee is suspect or known to be underage, but it’s even more important to follow protocol if a venue is ever issued a warning or has its license suspended for not following the protocol laid out in the law.
Ultimately, protecting customers, employees, and the business requires diligence on the part of the venue and any service staff it employs. Remember, the legal age to serve alcohol can vary from state to state, so make sure you know what it is at your venue, and ensure that all employees who serve alcohol are at or over the age of consent.
How Does This Affect Employment For Servers, Bartenders and Businesses That Serve Alcohol
While the age restrictions regarding the service of alcohol may help to promote the safety of patrons and encourage responsible service practices, many young workers find that the laws prevent them from gaining employment. Additionally, the laws regarding the service of alcohol vary between countries, and between U.S. states. This can create a situation for an employer where the legal age to serve in one state may be 16, but in another adjoining state it is 18 or even 21. The employer may have one uniform policy for all of its establishments in every state, or a single establishment that operates within both states. In either case the employer has the ability to voluntarily implement the more stringent of each state’s policies. By implementing the oldest age restriction as universal policy , an employer can help to ensure that compliance is met in each establishing, even if one of the states does not require it.
Because of the varying age restrictions in the hospitality industry and the legal impact they can have on the hiring process, employers need to be mindful regarding their employment practices and the hospitality industry. Hospitality employers should keep apprised of the legal age requirements in their state and any additional voluntary policies implemented by other establishments under common ownership. In some cases, employers may choose to voluntarily implement the most stringent requirements. The largest impact on employers will be on the hiring process. While these laws may limit the pool of applicants for certain positions, there are opportunities in the law to reduce the impact of the age restrictions.
Special Exceptions An Employer & Server Should Know
While the general rule is that all servers and sellers must meet the minimum age to serve alcohol, some state laws do include special circumstances or exemptions:
• Waivers—for example, Florida law allows persons under the minimum age to serve alcohol as long as they obtain "a special permit from the division authorizing such activities by individuals between the ages of eighteen [18] and twenty-one [21]" (Florida Statute §61.501.
• Special worker permits—a few states allow employment of underage personnel with special permits, which are typically issued only after strict vetting requirements and under specific circumstances. For example, the state of Iowa issues minor alcohol server permits to those minors who, among other requirements, submit an application form, present an original birth certificate, have his/her application notarized, pay a nonrefundable fee and wait at least 10 days for processing of the application. Additionally, if the applicant provides false information in the application, the application will be denied and a fine imposed (Iowa Code §123.53B).
• When employed in certain establishments—some states limit employment of underage servers to specific types of venues or activities. For example, in Pennsylvania, the Liquor Control Board prohibits employ of a person under the age of 18 "in a barroom, brewpub, distillery or casino; on the licensed premises of a retail liquor dealer; or in the service of alcoholic beverages in a private club, a truck stop or a railroad club" (59 Pa. Code § 5.7). Under New York law, persons under the age of 18 are prohibited from selling, delivering or pouring beer or liquor "in a barroom of an on-premises licensee" (New York Alcoholic Beverage Control Board AB-45).
As demonstrated by these examples, while the overwhelming majority of states afford prohibition or limitation of employment of underage personnel for company hospitality operations up to the individual state, municipalities and municipalities may also regulate such employment.
What Are The Future Trends to Consider When Serving Alcohol
As we look ahead to the future, it is possible that the legal age to serve alcohol could be impacted by a changing political and social landscape. For instance, as the country continues to trend towards more liberal alcohol laws, with Sunday and "brunch" service expanding in a number of states and communities, we may see continued action in the trend towards broader rights for alcohol service to include younger servers. If more states follow the example set forth by Wyoming and Minnesota in 2015, we may continue to see an easing of age restrictions for off-premise service employees. We may also see developments to the use of technology such as biometric identification systems and facial recognition software in commercial settings to ensure compliance with the legal minimum ages to sell or serve alcohol and assist businesses in "know your employee" (or customer) compliance program requirements.
In the meantime, while it is important to watch the laws and regulations in states and municipalities where a business operates, it is equally important to have awareness of the alcohol laws in other states where a business may have locations.
Conclusion
The information we have shared with you in this article about the age at which servers can be permitted to serve alcohol in bars, restaurants and other venues is only part of the story. We have also produced separate articles that address the age that servers must be for purposes of serving alcohol, descriptions of acceptable forms of identification, and identification checks in the context of serving alcohol .
As the description of the various laws and requirements in this article and our other articles reflects, there is no uniform federal law addressing the age at which servers can be permitted to serve alcohol in all states and local jurisdictions. The result is that it is imperative that employers of servers of alcohol take steps to ensure that their employees serve alcohol only in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws.