• Legislation & regulations

With the summer holidays approaching, any business planning to hire younger people over the new year should apply for a child employment licence now to avoid being understaffed.

Some labour hire businesses, particularly in the retail and hospitality industries, will hire teenagers during school holidays to help manage seasonal demand and extended opening hours.

In Victoria, businesses can hire teenagers as young as 13 years old in industries such as retail and hospitality, but children under 15 years old cannot start work until a child employment licence is issued by Wage Inspectorate Victoria.

Child employment licences are free but can take up to ten business days to be processed. A business can employ multiple children under one licence, and must adhere to rules around supervision, work hours, and rest breaks.

The child employment licensing system helps protect younger workers by ensuring the employer understands workplace risks and has measures in place to keep children safe, and that the employer knows about rules relating to supervision, rest breaks and working hours.

Under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic), labour hire providers must comply with all relevant workplace laws and may have their licence cancelled for non-compliance.

As Victoria’s child employment regulator, Wage Inspectorate officers will be inspecting businesses across the holiday period to ensure those employing children under 15 are abiding by the State’s child employment laws.

Workers under 15 must be supervised by someone who holds a valid Victorian Working with Children Clearance (unless exempt).

Child employment laws restrict when businesses can employ children and how long they can work:

• During a school term, children can be employed for a maximum of 3 hours a day and 12 hours per week.
• During school holidays, children can be employed up to 6 hours a day and 30 hours a week.
• Children can only work between 6am and 9pm.

Children must also receive a 30-minute rest break after every 3 hours work and have at least 12 hours break between shifts.

For more information, visit the Wage Inspectorate Victoria website.