Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, 1977

Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act—

“agreement” means a collective agreement, an employment regulation order or a registered employment agreement;

“child” means a person who is under the school leaving age;

“collective agreement” means an agreement by or on behalf of an employer, on the one hand, and by or on behalf of an entitled trade union or entitled trade unions representative of the employees to whom the agreement relates, on the other hand;

“employ” means employment under a contract of service or a contract of apprenticeship;

“employee” means a young person or a child as the context may require;

“employment regulation order” means an employment regulation order within the meaning of Part IV of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946;

“entitled trade union” means a body entitled under the Trade Union Act, 1941 , to carry on negotiations for the fixing of wages or other conditions of employment;

“hours of work” does not include periods of rest during which the employee is not required to be available for work;

“inspector” means a person appointed by the Minister to be an inspector for the purposes of this Act;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Labour;

“normal working hours” has the meaning assigned to it in section 7 of this Act;

“outworker” has the meaning assigned to it by the Conditions of Employment Act, 1936 ;

“registered employment agreement” means a registered employment agreement within the meaning of Part III of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 ;

“representatives of employees” means such trade unions as are, in the opinion of the Minister, representative of the employees in relation to whom the expression is used, or where there is no such trade union, such persons as are, in the opinion of the Minister, representative of such employees;

“representatives of employers” means such associations as are, in the opinion of the Minister, representative of the employers in relation to whom the expression is used, or where there is no such association, such persons as are, in the opinion of the Minister, representative of such employers;

“the school leaving age” means the age at which the School Attendance Act, 1926 , ceases to apply;

“week” means a period of seven consecutive days;

“young person” means a person who has reached the school-leaving age but is less than eighteen years of age.

(2) A person holding office under the State, and a person in the service of a local authority, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be employed by the State or the local authority, as the case may be.