Child Employment Act and Regulation 2006
In Queensland the employment of children and youth is governed by the Child Employment Act 2006, Child Employment Regulation 2006 effective 1 July 2006 and the Children and Young Workers Code of Practice 2006.
These new laws have been put in place to protect school-aged children from performing work that may be harmful to their health and safety or that compromises their mental, moral or social welfare.
The laws have also been introduced to limit the hours of work that a school aged child can work in order to prevent adverse effects on the child’s study and the prevent exploitation of cheap labour.
Age Restrictions
A school-aged child is a child that is under the age of 16 that has not yet completed year 10 at school.
The new laws allow children to be able to work from the age of 13 years providing that the maximum working hours are adhered to and the consent of the parents has been provided to the employer. This will be outlined further in this article.
Children aged 11-13 years are able to commence supervised employment delivering newspapers and advertising leaflets only.
The above laws in relation to the restriction of age and hours worked do not apply to children working in the family business or in the entertainment industry.
Restricted Working Hours
On a school day a school-aged child can only work for a maximum of four hours in one day and a maximum of 12 hours in one week.
On a non-school day a school-aged child can only work 8 hours in one day and a total of 38 hours in one week.
The other restriction is that children aged between 11-13 cannot work between 6pm and 6am. Other school-aged children (between 13 and 16 years who have NOT completed year 10) are not permitted to work between 10pm and 6am.
Parent’s Consent
For school aged children the parents must execute a Parent’s Consent Form and supply this to the employer before employment can commence. This form can be found on the following website www.dir.qld.gov.au.
Employer’s Obligations
Employers are responsible for ensuring the following;
- A school-aged child is not permitting to work unless the parent’s consent form has been signed and returned;
- A school-aged child must not be subjected to deliberate or unnecessary social isolation or any other behaviour likely to intimidate, threaten, frighten or humiliate the child. The employer must take reasonable steps to prevent this;
- Unless an industrial instrument provides other wise a school-aged or young child must not work more than one shift in one day and must be given at least an hour break after the end of the fourth hour of work;
- Keep specific records about child employee’s including the relevant parent’s consent forms.
For any further information on the new legislation please refer to the Industrial Relations website www.dir.qld.gov.au.