What is the minimum working age? There are calls to set a national standard across Australia
How old do you need to be to start work? If you answered 14 and 9 months you’d be like many Australians. You would also be wrong.
“The 14 years and 9 month rule is not true — it’s a myth — and unfortunately we don’t have a clear standard for the minimum age of working,” Josh Peak, the secretary of the SDA union tells the ABC.
The union, which represents employees in the fast food and retail sector (an industry reliant on young workers), is among several groups hoping to dispel that persistent myth and calling for stronger more consistent child employment laws in Australia, amidst the annual influx of young people getting summer jobs over the holidays.
Professor Paula McDonald, who researches young people and work at Queensland’s University of Technology, agrees.
“We have a really patchy and insufficient regulatory framework around child employment,” she laments.
“The Fair Work Act exempts child employment specifically, and leaves the states to develop their own regulation. There are several states which have no specific child employment regulation whatsoever.”
According to the SDA union, the 14 and 9 month myth appears to have come from a time when that was the minimum age a young person could leave their schooling to formally join the workforce full-time.
So what are the laws in your state?
Each state and territory has different rules that govern child employment — and some don’t have any minimum working age or any child labour laws at all.
In the ACT, there are child employment laws that cover anyone under 18 and it is illegal to employ a child or young person under 15 years old unless the employment is considered “light work”. There are various other restrictions including limits to hours worked.
The Northern Territory doesn’t have specific child employment laws, however children under 15 cannot work between 10pm and 6am.
In Queensland the minimum working age is 13 except for jobs like delivery work (for which they must be at least 11 years old), and there are similar restrictions to other states on things like working hours.
Victoria has similar age restrictions, but businesses who employ anyone under the age of 15 must also get a licence to do so. There are no age restrictions for family businesses or the entertainment industry.
In Western Australia children must be 15 to work except in some circumstances, such as working in a family business. Younger children may work in some types of employment if their parents give written permission.
There is no minimum working age in New South Wales, however there are several restrictions on the type of work a person under 18 can perform.
Neither South Australia nor Tasmania have any child employment legislation, but children cannot work during school hours.
Children working has a range of benefits, says union
While Josh Peak from the SDA union says working has many benefits for young people, children are inherently more vulnerable than adult workers and need stronger protections.
“There’s no doubt that getting your first job in the retail fast food sector is a really exciting time and brings a range of really good experiences,” he says.
“I don’t think anyone is saying that young people shouldn’t be able to work part-time, earn some money, and develop life skills and great friendships.
“There are a range of problems, though, when young and inexperienced people do enter the workforce, particularly around their knowledge of what’s right and wrong.
“And also their capacity to stand up for themselves and call call out things when they aren’t going the way that that they should be.”
He said young people need to be educated on their rights at work and parents can play a big role.
“We really need to make sure that parents are engaging with their young person who’s entered the workforce for the first time to give them the support that they need to speak up when something’s wrong.”
Professor McDonald agrees that a national standard or consistent laws would better protect young people at work.
“Children are not mini adults, they have vulnerabilities in work,” she warns.
“For example, they’re more susceptible to wage theft … They’re also more vulnerable to sexual harassment and bullying.”
“I would say there are up to a million children contributing to the Australian economy every year, most prominently in crucial service industries.
“Kids deliver our pizzas and scan our groceries and wait on our cafe and restaurant tables. And yet they’re largely invisible in terms of having the rights and protections that they need in terms of their developmental stages and their vulnerability in the labour market.”
‘I think there should be a minimum working age’
Twenty-two-year-old Connor Boyle has been working for a major fast food chain restaurant since he was 15.
“I wanted to learn how to earn money and understand how life is with earning money.”
He found the work scrubbing floors and frying food pretty tough, and said he often didn’t get breaks, and on reflection thinks it isn’t ideal for young teenagers to be working in fast food restaurants.
“I saw a lot of 14 and 15 year olds start working in fast food. And it was kind of scary to see someone that young working that age really, I thought it was a bit unsafe.”
He joined the SDA union, which he said helped him understand his rights as a worker.
“I think there should be a minimum working age,” he said.
Australia recently ratified an international treaty on child employment, which states children should be aged 15 to work, however currently many states’ laws are not in line with this.
SOURCE: ABCNEWS