Posted on April 6, 2009 by by Loquacity

Further to the original post on this matter, I have finally gotten everything together into a single document. I have tried to capture the essence of what people were trying to say in this, but if you feel I’ve missed something, or you think something could be worded better, or removed, yell. Also I wanted to remind people that the deadline for the submission is 5pm Monday 11 May 2009. I know that seems like ages away yet, but we will need to do at least one more draft of this before it can be sent.

Comments on the Employment of Children & Young People in the ACT

ACT Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, Office for Children, Youth and Family Support

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This submission contains comments from members of the public with regards to the employment of children and young people in the ACT. The information was gathered through public collaboration on the social networking site http://www.typeboard.com. The contributors represent parents as well as those without children, both singles and couples, and an array of combinations of these demographics.

The comments fall into three main categories: age of employees; type of work and appropriate industries; remuneration; employer responsibilities.

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Age of employees

Children are currently allowed to finish school in the ACT at the age of 15, although this is currently subject to discussion at State level. Because young people who have left school should be offered every opportunity to be employed, then legislation governing the work of young people should only apply up to the legal school-leaving age. For the purposes of this paper, the age of 15. If the legal school-leaving age is changed, this recommendation will move in line with that change.

For children under school-leaving age, parental permission must be obtained. Parents should be educated and encouraged to grant approval or otherwise based on a number of key factors:
* The ability of the individual to perform duties – both physically and mentally
* Access to safe and reliable transport to and from the workplace
* The ability of the individual to work the hours required

Where parental permission has been granted, the parent reserves the right to withdraw that consent on the grounds that the work is other than that proposed initially. Consent can also be withdrawn if the parent has concerns over the welfare of the child in relation to the workplace or the duties requested of them. Employers should be encouraged to be in communication with parents of young people in their employ.

Children under the age of approximately 8-10 years old should have no ability to work in paid employment. Children are still at a very early stage of development at that age. Play is still an important part of their development at this stage, and should be encouraged. Being in paid employment places a burden on very young children that they do not have the mental and physical development to be able to handle effectively.

Type of work and appropriate industries

Children differ wildly from individual to individual. Where one thirteen year old may be capable of some heavy lifting – say stacking supermarket shelves during the school holidays – another fourteen year old may not be physically able to maintain that level of activity. With this in mind, and understanding that legislation must apply equally to all those it affects, the recommendation is that the legislation is as unlimited as possible. This leaves discretion to the parent or the employee, where the individual is above school-leaving age. The areas that should be restricted are:
* The sex industry. This is to prevent child exploitation, and also to attempt to curb the number of young people who are lured into the industry and unable to extricate themselves at a later time.
* Mining, Forestry, and similar industries that carry a high risk of personal physical danger. This restriction is to avoid serious injury or death.

A point of contention in this category is that of the fashion and modelling industry. In all cases, this should be monitored and approved by parents. However, there are certain restrictions that can be implemented in addition to exercising parental judgment:
* Children should only model age-appropriate goods and services. For example, a teen can only be allowed to model clothes aimed at a teen market; babies can only be used to advertise baby-related products.
* Guidelines related to sexualisation of children, particularly girls, should be closely monitored and enforced. There have been studies worldwide that relate to this issue, but of particular interest are “Letting Children be Children: Stopping the sexualisation of children in Australia” (available from https://www.tai.org.au/?q=node/8&offset=2) and “Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls” by the American Psychological Association (available from http://www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html).

Remuneration

There are financial incentives for employers to hire young people. This is directly in the form of reduced wages, and indirectly in the form of lower superannuation costs, lower insurance and WorkCover costs, and lower PAYG and taxation payments. The reasons why young people want to work generally differ from those of adults. Where adults work to enable them to purchase housing, groceries, and other basic essentials, children often (although by no means does this cover all individual situations) have their basic essentials provided by the family unit. In this case, earnings go towards luxury items – clothes, electronic devices, and entertainment expenses, for example. There is no onus on young people to earn a wage capable of subsistence, and evidence would suggest that children that do earn an above-average salary are more likely to leave the family unit sooner than they would otherwise. This presents issues in terms of children becoming under-educated, can negatively impact homelessness rates, and increase dependence on social welfare. Keeping wages graduated in terms of age is, therefore, recommended.

Employer responsibilities

Employers who operate a family business should be subject to the same legislation when hiring family members as they are when hiring any other individual. The legislation exists to protect children from exploitation in the workforce, and also to ensure they experience a well-balanced and healthy childhood, without restricting them from earning wages, and learning how to operate within the workforce. Children who have been born into families with small businesses should also be offered those same opportunities and protections.

The number of hours children are permitted to work is a difficult to quantify, as these vary significantly between school terms and holiday periods. For this reason, a dual approach may be necessary:
* During gazetted school holidays, ordinary work limits for the appropriate industry apply, including any restrictions on back-to-back shifts, allotted breaks, and maximum hours in shift.
* During the school term, a total limit of 25 hours per week to be enforced, while recognising core school operating hours. The individual and their parents have the right to refuse a shift if it conflicts with school commitments without penalty. 25 hours a week allows a number of 3-4 hour shifts on weekdays, and one full day on a weekend.

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In conclusion, children should be encouraged to learn about the adult world through exploring paid employment, and with the freedom earning their own money can provide. This, however, should not occur at the detriment of social and developmental opportunities. Considered and well-implemented legislation ensures that children are still given the opportunity to be children, but that they are allowed to explore their future in a safe and supporting way. These recommendations are provided within the consideration that parents, children, and employers will be educated in the intent behind the legislation, as well the individual regulations.

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Now … go!

L

Draft Comments on the employment of children and young people in the ACT, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings

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