Recruitment and Selection: Child Employment

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Table of Contents

Executive summary
Introduction
Children under 16 years
Children between 16 and 18 years
Health and safety at work
Type of work
Hours of work
Penalties
Conclusion
Reference

Executive summary

The advertisement of the trainee or apprentice kitchen hand post for young people between 16 and 18 years old from a local branch of a national cheesecake shop chain was legal. This is because these young people are of school leaving age and can chose to be employed at their will. However, there are certain limitations that may restrict the employer in terms of kind of work to give them, hours worked per day, and the health and safety measures.

Introduction

A child is any person under 18 years of age. There are certain rules which regulate where children should be employed and at what age. There are cases where these children can be allowed to work as early as 13 years.

Children under 16 years

A school aged child is any child under the age of 16 years. These children are required to be in school or in any form of educational program. A child of this age or below can only work under a written permission of the parent. In this case a parent being the father, the mother or some other person with parental responsibilities over the child. These children can be employed to deliver newspapers or they can be employed to attend shops or retail centers. The only time these children can be allowed to work is when they are out of school between 6.00 am to 10.00 p.m. Work for a child can be in form of a contract of service, supervision of other workers, assisting in profit based businesses, or voluntary work. There are some types of work that can be done by any child at any age such as participating in family businesses, work that is part of a school program, non profit making organizations, or in any form of entrainment (e.g. drama).

Children between 16 and 18 years

After the age of 16 years the child can work at his/her own discretion as long as such employment does no interfere with his/her studies. However, it is illegal to employ such a child during the time he is supposed to attend classes unless there is a notice of such provisions. There are general rules that guide children against harassment from the employer. Children are supposed to work in safe places and they are not supposed to be overworked.

Health and safety at work

If an employer is considering employing children less than 18 years, he has to first access the possibility of risks that may threaten the health and safety of such children. Attention should be paid to age, experience and other things that could endanger the health and safety of the child. If the child in question is still of school going age, the employer should give the result of the safety assessment to the parent. However, for occasional work or short term work there is no need for a safety assessment

Type of work

Some restrictions apply to children of school leaving age but less than 18 on the kind of work they should be employed to do. They are not allowed to do work that they are incapable of either physically or mentally. They should not do work involving toxic materials or chemical agents or where their health is at risk. Some conditions may allow one to do such work if they are given the necessary training, or under the supervision of a skilled person, or if the risk is reduced. These children can not work in construction works, in transport services, or in mines.

Hours of work

Young adults between 16 and 18 years old must not be allowed to work over eight hours in a given day and not more than 40 hours per week. They are also allowed to have a 30 minutes break after working for four to five hours. A child under 18 is protected against doing work between 10 pm and 6 am. However if contracted to work after 10.00 pm such work should be stopped at 11pm and should not start before 7 a.m.

Penalties

It is illegal to employ a child in a wok place that is harmful to their health and safety. In such cases the department for child protection can issue notices to the employer and the parent of the child to stop the child from working. Violation of such notices attracts a penalty of up to $36, 000 and a 3 years imprisonment. Domestic chores, traineeship, vocational placement among others can not be termed as work.

Persons who employ children or parents who allows their children to be appointed to work outside hours other than the ones allowed or to do work that is not allowed may attract a penalty of up to $24,000 and an incorporated employer could be penalized $120,000. These laws are enforced by the Department for Child Protection through their authorized officers.

Conclusion

A child is anyone under 18 years of age. A school aged child is any child under the age of 16 years. A child of this age or below can only work under a written permission of the parent. Such a child can be employed to do light chores such as delivering newspapers or attending to shops or retail centers any time from 6 pm to 10 pm. After the age of 16 years the child can work at his/her own discretion as long as employment does no interfere with their studies. The employer has to do a health and safety assessment before hiring such children and they should not be overworked.

Reference

Anon. 2010. Employment – In England: Young people and employment advice guide. Web.

Bernard, Henry. 2008. Legal provision respecting the education and employment of children in factories, &co. Harvard University Printed by Case, Tiffany & Burnham.

Department for child protection. Employment of children laws, Children and Community Services Act 2004. On-line. Web.

Horner, Leonard. 2008. The employment of children in factories and other works in the United Kingdom and in some foreign countries. Longman.

Queensland Child Employment Act 2006. On-line. Web.

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