Employing Young Persons During the Summer Holidays

For many businesses, the summer period becomes busy due to the seasonal nature of the sector they fall into. It is also a time where many of your core staff take annual leave, posing the challenge of fulfilling labour needs in the most practical way for the business throughout the summer months. As schools and colleges are closed, young workers are open to potential employers to provide additional temporary cover. In this article we look at how you might effectively manage these issues. Fixed Term Contracts When taking on an employee for a temporary period of time, or for the duration of a specific purpose, it is absolutely essential that the employee be issued with fixed term or specific purpose contracts. This is a legal requirement under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 and Terms of Employment Information Act, 1994, and a failure to issue one will leave the employer exposed to a tribunal claim, one which can be easily avoided. Hiring Young Persons The Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996 provides a range of rules and safeguards for young workers and employers must be mindful of these obligations throughout the summer months. Unimportantly, there are also different rules for (a) 16 and 17 year olds, as compared to (b) 14 and 15 years olds. For example, 14 and 15 year olds can be employed for light duties only and written permission must be obtained from their parents or guardians before they can be employed. In addition, there are very strict rules in respect of the hours that a young person can work, their rest breaks, start and finish times etc. Employers will need to be extremely vigilant of these requirements, particularly as it is a key focal point of the Workplace Relations (formerly NERA). The below table outlines the general working hour rules for children and young persons but do bear in mind that specific rules may exist for you industry and advice should always be sought.

Child   (under 16 years)			Young   Person (16 and 17 years)
Age	14yr	15yr	Age	16yr	17yr
Maximum weekly working hours:			Maximum weekly working hours:
Term Time:	Nil	8 hours	Daily Hours	8 hours	8 hours
Holiday Work:	35 hours	35 hours	Weekly Hours	40 hours	40 hours
Work Experience:	40 hours	40 hours
Rest Periods (consecutive   periods):			Rest Periods (consecutive   periods):
After 4 Hours	30 mins	30 mins	After 4.5 hours	30 mins	30 mins
Daily Rest Break	14 hrs	14 hrs	Daily Rest Break	14 hrs	14 hrs
Weekly Rest Break	2 days	2 days	Weekly Rest Break	2 days	2 days
Summer Break	21 days	21 days
Early Morning:			Early Morning:
Not Permissible:	Before 8am	Before 8am	Not Permissible:	Before 6am	Before 6am
Night Work:			Night Work
Not Permissible:	After 8pm	After 8pm	Not Permissible:	After 10pm	After 10pm

  Young Persons: Record Keeping An employer should be vigilant with record keeping, keeping records of names, date of birth, a copy of their birth certificate, start and finish time each day, rate of wages paid per payment period and total. These should be kept for up to three years. Employers should also be mindful of their usual NERA record keeping obligations. Under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 employers should give a summary of the above Act, along with their statement of main terms, within a month of taking up employment. An official summary should be displayed somewhere in the workplace publicly where it can be read also. Rate of Pay An employee under 18 years is entitled to an hourly rate of 70% of the national minimum wage. Those employees who are 18 years of age and are entering employment for the first time are entitled to 80% of the national minimum wage in the first year of employment and 90% in the second. Health and Safety Be extra mindful around Health and Safety considerations with the above, with recent statistics from the HAS finding that around 1-in-10 reported workplace injuries were young workers. Ensure they receive sufficient training and instructions and are supervised effectively. Ensure they are provided with and wear any PPE required for the job. Many employers are unaware that there are so many rules and regulations protecting young persons and given that a lot of these rules can be industry specific it is very important that advice is taken from our 24 Hour Advice Service on 01 855 50 50 before you engage any young workers for the summer months.