YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 452.92

YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT)

REGULATIONS

5th April, 2004

LEGAL NOTICE 440 of 2003, as amended by Legal Notices 427 of 2007

and 257 of 2012 and Act XXIX of 2019.

(1) The title of these regulations is the Young Persons

(Employment) Regulations.

(2)

The purpose of these regulations is to

(a) prohibit work by children;

(b) establish that the minimum employment age shall not

be lower than the minimum age at which compulsory

full-time schooling ends;

(c) regulate work by adolescents and young persons; and

(d) ensure that employers guarantee that young people

have working conditions which suit their age and are

protected against economic exploitation and against

any work likely to harm their safety, health or

physical, mental, moral or social development or to

jeopardise their education.

(3) These regulations shall apply to any person under eighteen

years of age having a contract of employment or any form of

employment relationship with an employer.

(4) These regulations shall not apply to occasional work or

short-term work involving -

(a) domestic service in a private household, or

(b) work in a family undertaking

Provided that, in either case, the work to be performed

cannot be regarded as being harmful, damaging or dangerous to a

young person.

(5) These regulations shall come into force on the 5th April,

2004.

Regulation 4(1): Working time for a child

Description of work

Age (years)

Working time

(a) Regulation 3(3)(b)(i): work

performed under a combined work

eight hours a day and 40 hours

14-16

and, or training scheme, or an in-

a week;

plant work-experience scheme

(b) Regulation 3(3)(b)(ii): light

work performed during school

two hours on a school day and

14-16

term-time outside the fixed school

12 hours a week;

hours

Provided that the maximum 14- up to 15

(a) seven hours per day;

daily working time shall be

over 15-16

(b) eight hours per day;

(c) Regulation 3(3)(b)(ii): light 14- up to 15

seven hours a day and 35 hours

work performed during a period of

a week*;

a t l e a s t a w e e k d u r i n g s c h o o l over 15-16

eight hours a day and 40 hours

holidays

a week*.

*

The specified working time shall be without prejudice to the provisions of these regulations.

(1)

In these regulations

''the Act'' means the Employment and Industrial Relations Act;

''adolescent'' means any young person who has reached sixteen

years of age, or any other age which may from time to time be

established as the school leaving age by virtue of the Education

Act, but is less than eighteen years of age;

''child'' means any young person, of either sex, who is under

sixteen years of age, or any other age which may from time to time

be established as the school leaving age by virtue of the Education

Act;

''Director'' shall have the same meaning assigned to it by article 2

of the Act;

''Director of Education'' has the same meaning assigned to it by

article 2 of the Education Act;

''light work'' means all work which, on account of the inherent

nature of the tasks which it involves and the particular conditions

under which the tasks are performed

(a) has been shown by a risk assessment, in terms of the

General Provisions for Health and Safety at

Workplaces Regulations, and any other relevant health

and safety legislation which may be in force from time

to time, carried out by the employer in accordance with

the same General Provisions for Health and Safety at

Workplaces Regulations, to be work which is not likely

to be harmful to the safety, health or development of

children; and

(b) the Director of Education has no objection to the

carrying out of such work on the grounds that such

work is harmful to their attendance at school, their

participation in vocational guidance or training

programmes approved by the Minister responsible for

education or by such other person duly authorised by

the said Minister to act on his behalf, or their capacity

to benefit from the instruction received;

''Occupational Health and Safety Authority'' means the Authority

established by virtue of the Health and Safety Authority Act;

''parent'' includes any person having the legal care or custody of a

young person;

''rest period'' means any period which is not working time;

''working time'' means any period during which the young person

is at work, at the employer’s disposal and carrying out his activity

or duties;

''work'' includes any duty, activity, task or service producing a

product or result, and being performed for payment or for free or in

exchange for goods, for services, for profit or for benefit;

''young person'' means any person under eighteen years of age.

(2) Subject to the provisions of subregulation (1), terms and

expressions used in these regulations shall, unless the context

otherwise requires, have the meaning assigned to them in the Act.

(1) Subject to subregulation (2) and (3), no person shall

employ a child unless the child has been granted written permission

in terms of the provisions of the Education Act.

(2) An employer shall apply to the Director for written

authorisation to employ a child in cultural, artistic, sports or

advertising activities, and the Director may issue such

authorisation, in individual cases, for the employment of a child in

such activities

Provided that

(a) the employer carries out a risk assessment, in terms of

the General Provisions for Health and Safety at

Workplaces Regulations, and any other relevant health

and safety legislation which may be in force from time

to time, in accordance with the same General Provisions

for Health and Safety at Workplaces Regulations, which

shows that such activities are not likely to be harmful

to the safety, health or development of the child; and

(b) the Director of Education has no objection to the

carrying out of such activities on the grounds that such

work is not likely to have an adverse effect on the

child’s attendance at school, or on his participation in

vocational guidance or training programmes approved

by the Minister responsible for education or by such

other person duly authorised by the said Minister to act

on his behalf, or on the capacity to benefit from the

instruction received.

(3) Subregulation (1) shall not apply in respect of the

employment of children who are at least

(a) thirteen years of age and the employment is for the

purposes of taking part in cultural, artistic, sports,

advertising or educational activities, approved by the

Minister responsible for education

Provided that the employer shall submit a written

notification to the Director prior to employing such

children and shall abide with the provisions of

subregulation (4);

or who are

(b) fourteen years of age, if they are

(i)

working under a combined work/training scheme

or an in-plant work-experience scheme approved

by the Minister responsible for education

Provided that the employer shall submit

written notification to the Director prior to

employing such children; or

(ii) performing light work other than that covered by

subregulations (2) and (3)(a)

Provided that the employer shall seek written

authorisation from the Director prior to

employing such children.

(4) In issuing the authorisation referred to in subregulation (2),

and in the cases referred to in subregulation (3)(a), the Director

may, at his discretion, attach such conditions as the Director deems

fit on any issue relating to the conditions of employment of

children, including on working time, night work, rest periods, and

breaks, and it shall be the duty of an employer of such a child to

comply fully with these conditions

Provided that under no circumstance shall these conditions

be less favourable than the conditions of work applicable to

children referred to in subregulation (3)(b).

(5) The authorisation granted by the Director referred to in

subregulation (2) and subregulation (4) may be withdrawn at any

time, and any decision taken by the Director on any issue related to

the employment of children and relating to the conditions of

employment in this regard shall be final.

(1) The working time for a child who is authorised to work

in terms of regulation 3(3)(b) shall not exceed that shown in the

Schedule.

(2) The working time for adolescents shall not exceed eight

hours a day and forty hours a week.

(3) Any time spent on training by a young person working

under a theoretical and, or practical combined work, training

scheme or an in-plant work-experience scheme shall be counted as

working time.

(4)

(a) Where a young person is employed by more than one

employer, working days and working time shall be

cumulative and shall not exceed the working days and

working times established by these regulations.

(b) It shall be the duty of the employer to ascertain

whether a young person is performing work for another

employer and to ascertain the working time in any

other employment.

(c) If a young person has more than one employment, it

shall also be the duty of the parent, in the case of

employment of a child, or in the case of the

employment of an adolescent, the duty of the

adolescent, to inform the employer of the hours of

work carried out for another employer.

(d) An employer shall not permit a young person to carry

out any form of work on any day on which that young

person has done any form of work for any other

employer, unless the aggregate working time with

more than one employer on that day does not exceed

the total time for which such a young person may

lawfully work for one employer on that day according

to these regulations.

(5) Whenever an employer employs a young person in

contravention of the preceding sub-regulation, the employer shall

be guilty of an offence and the young person, if he or she is an

adolescent, or the parent in the case of a child, shall also be guilty

of an offence.

(6) Whenever an employer is prosecuted for an offence under

this regulation, it shall be a defence for him to prove

(a) that he did not know, and could not by reasonable

enquiry have known, that the employee had carried out

work for any other employer on the day in respect of

which the prosecution is brought; or

(b) that he did not know, or could not by reasonable

enquiry have known, that the aggregate of the periods

for which the employee worked on that day exceeded

the period for which the employee could lawfully work

for one employer on that day.

(1) No child employed in terms of regulation 3(3)(b) shall

perform work between 8 p.m. on any one day and 6 a.m. of the

following day.

(2) Subject to the provisions of subregulations (3) and (4), no

adolescent shall perform work between 10 p.m. on any one day and

6 a.m. of the following day.

(3) The Director may, at his discretion, and if there are

exceptional circumstances affecting a particular branch of activity

or a particular area of work, grant authorisation for work to be

performed by adolescents in specific areas of activity during the

period in which night work is prohibited

Provided that in such cases

(a) the adolescent shall be supervised by an adult where a

risk assessment performed by the employer, in

accordance with the General Provisions for Health and

Safety at Workplaces Regulations, has shown that this is

necessary on grounds of health and safety; and

(b) in any case, no work shall be carried out between

midnight and 4 a.m

Provided further that an adolescent attending an educational

institution approved under the Education Act shall not be assigned

any work between midnight and 6 a.m. on any weekday during the

period the adolescent is expected to attend such educational

institution.

(4) The provisions of subregulation (2) prohibiting night work

shall not apply for work performed in the following sectors, if there

are objective grounds for such work to be carried out at night and

provided that suitable compensatory rest is allowed and that the

principles set out in regulation 1(2) are safeguarded

(a) shipping or fisheries sectors;

(b) hospitals or similar establishments;

(c) cultural, artistic, sports or advertising activities.

(1) Children employed in terms of regulation 3(3)(b) shall

be entitled to

(a) a minimum daily rest period of fourteen consecutive

hours for each twenty-four hour period; and

(b) a minimum weekly rest period of two consecutive days

in any calendar week, one day of which shall be a

Sunday.

(2)

Adolescents shall be entitled to

(a) a minimum daily rest period of twelve consecutive

hours for each twenty-four hour period; and

(b) a minimum weekly rest period of two days in any

calendar week, which shall if possible be consecutive

and which in principle, shall include Sunday.

(3) The employer may, in exceptional circumstances and where

justified by technical or organisation reasons, submit a written

request to the Director for authorisation to reduce the minimum

weekly rest period referred to in subregulation (1) and (2), but this

may in no circumstance be less than thirty-six consecutive hours.

Such authorisation by the Director shall be given in writing

Provided that the employer shall give the reasons for his

request and keep a copy of the authorisation.

(4) The minimum rest periods referred to in this regulation may

be split up in the case of activities involving separate periods of

work spread over the day or are of short duration.

(5) Subject to objective reasons, the provisions of

subregulation (2) shall not apply for work performed in the

following sectors

(a) shipping or fisheries;

(b) hospitals or similar establishments;

(c) agriculture;

(d) tourism industry, hotels and catering;

(e) activities involving periods of work split up over the

day

Provided that the employee is granted appropriate

compensatory rest time and that the purposes of these regulations

set out in regulation 1(2) are safeguarded.

A child employed in terms of regulation 3(3)(b) shall have

an aggregate minimum of twenty-one days free of any work during

the child’s school holidays.

(1) An employer shall not require or permit a young person

to work for any period exceeding four and a half hours without an

uninterrupted break of at least thirty minutes.

(2) A young person shall not be entitled to be paid in respect of

the break specified in subregulation (1).

An employer may, in unusual and unforeseeable

circumstances beyond the employer ’s control, or as a result of

exceptional events the consequences of which could not have been

avoided despite the exercise of all due care, allow adolescents to

carry out work and be exempted from the provisions of regulations

4(2), 5(2), 6(2)(a) and 8

Provided that

(a) such work is of a temporary nature and has to be

performed immediately;

(b) that adult workers are not available to replace the

adolescents; and

(c) that the adolescents are allowed equivalent

compensatory rest time within the following three

weeks.

(1) An employer who employs a young person shall

(a) before employing the young person, require the

production of a birth certificate, or other satisfactory

evidence attesting to the age of the young person;

(b) before employing a young person, obtain the written

permission of a parent of the young person; and

(c) maintain a register, or other satisfactory record,

including, in relation to every young person employed,

the following particulars

(i) full name;

(ii) date of birth;

(iii) the time the young person commences and

finishes work each day;

(iv) the rate of wages or salary due to the young

person for his or her normal working hours each

day, week, month or year, as the case may be;

and

(v) the total amount actually paid to each young

person by way of wages or salary.

(2) An employer shall keep, at the place where a young person

is employed, such records as are necessary to show that the

provisions of these regulations are being complied with. Such

records shall be retained by the employer for at least three years.

(3)

Where -

(a) there is a dispute between an employer and employee,

or

(b) there is a prosecution for an offence under these

regulations,

and the records required to be kept by an employer under the

preceding subregulations are not available, apart from being guilty

of an offence in terms of the provisions of subregulations (1) and

(2), the onus of proof that the provisions of any other regulation has

been complied with shall lie on the employer.

(1) An employer who contravenes or fails to comply with

any of the provisions of these regulations shall be guilty of an

offence against the Act.

(2) The parent of a young person who aids or abets an employer

in contravening any provision of these regulations shall be guilty of

an offence against the Act.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under these regulations shall

be liable, on conviction, to a fine (multa) of not less than five

hundred and eighty-two euro and thirty-four cents (582.34) and to a

further fine (multa) of not less than one hundred and sixteen euro

and forty-seven cents (116.47) for every day during which the

offence continues after conviction

Provided that an offence under this regulation shall

continue to subsist until the offender shall have conformed and

complied with the infringed provisions of these regulations.

These regulations supersede any less favourable relevant

provisions in any regulations, orders or other subsidiary legislation

made under or kept in force under the Act, and any such relevant

provisions are hereby being revoked.

YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT)