Child Employment (Vic)

In Victoria, a child as young as eleven can take on certain types of employment, but there are special rules that govern the employment of such young workers. Specifically, the Child Employment Act 2003 creates the parameters for employing underage workers. Most recently, the Child Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 updated this law to clarify employers’ obligations and strengthen protections for young workers. For instance, the Act streamlines the licensing system to replace the previous permit system and allows employers to employ several children under one license, reducing the administrative burden on companies. This article looks at the legal framework for child employment in Victoria.

Child employment in Victoria

While federal employment law applies to all workers in the national workplace system, it does not specifically regulate child employment (though it applies to young workers in certain circumstances). Instead, the Victorian Child Employment Act governs the employment of children under the age of fifteen in Australia. Employers in the state must obtain a Child Employment Licence to employ a worker who is under that age, regardless of whether their work is voluntary or paid. This licence lasts for two years and is free. It is a offence for an employer to employ a child without holding this licence and the offender may be penalised.

In Victoria, a child must be at least 11 to deliver advertising material and newspapers, and 13 to work in retail or hospitality or deliver pharmaceutical products. Children can only be employed to perform light work that will not harm their development, wellbeing, health or safety. That means that a child cannot work on a fishing boat, a building site, or selling door-to-door.

Employing children in Victoria

There are strict rules around employing children in Victoria, particularly around their start and finish times, work hours and rest breaks. Children can usually only work between the hours of 6 am and 9 pm, and not during school hours. During school terms, children can only work a maximum of three hours a day and a total of 12 hours per week, while in school holidays, children can work up to six hours a day and a total of 30 hours per week. When at work, the child must take a 30-minute break every three hours, and have at least 12 hours of rest between shifts. Employers must maintain a written record of all dates, hours, times and locations that the child works to ensure compliance with the statutory rules. Employers can apply to vary the statutory work hours and rest breaks.

There are, however, statutory exemptions for parents or guardians who employ their own child in a family business. In that case, as long as the child is predominantly supervised by their own parent or guardian, there is no need to have a licence, and no rules around age restriction, hours of work and rest breaks. However, the rules around the type of work and the prohibition around working during school hours still applies.

There are also exemptions from the law for times when children are participating in a religious service or a school project, or tutoring other children. Additionally, an employer does not need a licence to hold work experience for a child who attends secondary school, unless the child is home schooled.

Working with children clearance

In the workplace, children must always operate under adult supervision. Of course, these supervisors must be suited to have charge over vulnerable children to protect them from physical and psychological harm. Unless there is an exemption, all individuals who work directly with children under the age of 18 must have clearance. The Department of Justice and Community Safety carries out Working with Children screening to check for criminal convictions and professional misconduct. Under section 19(b) of the Working with Children Act 2005, employers must ensure that WWC Checks are conducted and a Notice of Assessment has been issued before allowing someone to supervise a child under 15 years of old. Employers need to keep written records for five years of this supervision, including both the name of the supervisor and their clearance number.

Additionally, Victoria has general Child Safe Standards that all organisations must abide by to keep children safe from any kind of physical, sexual or psychological abuse. Employers must adhere to these standards with any minors in the workplace.

In the entertainment and advertising industry, there is no minimum age of employment, but the employer must hold an industry specific licence to employ a worker under the age of fifteen. In these circumstances, children must be supervised by someone with a Victorian Working with Children Clearance unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Case study

TK Maxx recently pled guilty to multiple infringements of child employment law, including hiring two children under the age of 15 without a permit. TK Maxx was one of several organisations caught breaching child labour laws when Wage Inspectorate Victoria conducted a compliance audit blitz in 2022. The regulator first issued TK Maxx with a warning when they were found employing a worker under 15 without a permit, however, they ignored the warning and employed another underage worker a week later. Consequently, Wage Inspectorate Victoria accused them of a disregard for the state’s child employment laws and the wellbeing of young employees.

The retailer admitted that between September 28 and December 26 2022 it:

• failed to ensure that a child worker was supervised by someone with a Working with Children Clearance on 4 occasions
• employed a child for hours that exceeded the legal maximum on three occasions
• employing a child after 9 pm on three occasions
• failed to provide a child worker with a 30-minute rest break every three hours on 11 occasions.

This was despite TK Maxx signing a parental consent form that stipulated that they would ensure the children would work according to child employment restrictions. In the Melbourne Magistrates Court, TK Maxx was placed on an adjourned undertaking for 12 months and forced to pay a $5,000 contribution to the court fund. In delivering the sentence, Magistrate Thomas noted the company’s early guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and “inadvertent” offending.

Go To Court Lawyers can provide advice on child labour laws in Victoria or help with any other employment law matter. Please phone 1300 636 846 today for legal assistance.