Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, 1996
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Employment of young persons. |
6.—(1) An employer shall not employ a young person on any work except where, subject to this section and sections 7 , 8 and 9 , the employer— | |
(a) does not require or permit the young person to work for more than 8 hours in any day or 40 hours in any week, | ||
(b) does not require or permit the young person to work— | ||
(i) between 10 p.m. on any one day and 6 a.m. on the following day, or | ||
(ii) between 11 p.m. on any one day (provided the day is not before a school day during a school term where such young person is attending school) and 7 a.m. on the following day, where the Minister is satisfied, following consultation with such representatives of employers and representatives of employees as the Minister considers appropriate, that there are exceptional circumstances affecting a particular branch of activity or a particular area of work as may be prescribed, | ||
(c) ensures that the young person receives a minimum rest period of 12 consecutive hours in each period of 24 hours, | ||
(d) ensures that the young person receives in any period of 7 days a minimum rest period of 2 days which shall, as far as is practicable, be consecutive, and | ||
(e) does not require or permit the young person to do for him or her any work for any period exceeding 4 ½ hours without a break of at least 30 consecutive minutes. | ||
(2) The minimum consecutive hours of rest in each period of 24 hours specified in subsection (1) (c) may be interrupted by an employer in the case of a young person employed on activities that do not extend beyond 2 hours in each day or are separated, exclusive of breaks, over the day provided that, in each period of 24 hours, the young person receives a minimum rest period of 12 hours. | ||
(3) The minimum periods of rest during each period of 7 days specified in subsection (1) (d) may be interrupted by an employer in the case of a young person employed on activities that do not extend beyond 2 hours in each day or are separated, exclusive of breaks, over the day provided that, in each period of 7 days, the cumulative rest period is 2 days. | ||
(4) The minimum periods of rest in each period of 24 hours and each period of 7 days specified in subsection (1) (c) and (d) shall not apply to a young person who is employed in the shipping or fishing sectors: | ||
Provided that— | ||
(a) there are objective grounds justifying the non-application of the provisions; | ||
(b) such young persons receive appropriate compensatory rest times at some time during each period of 24 hours and each period of 7 days, and | ||
(c) the trade union or representative of the young person is consulted. | ||
(5) The limitations on hours of work and on night work specified in subsection (1) (a) and (b), and the minimum periods of rest specified in subsection (1) (c) and (d) shall not apply to young persons who are members of the Defence Forces when they are— | ||
(a) on active service within the meaning of section 5 of the Defence Act, 1954 , or deemed to be on active service, within the meaning of section 4 (1) of the Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1960 ; | ||
(b) engaged in action in the course of operational duties at sea; | ||
(c) engaged in operations in aid of the civil power; or | ||
(d) engaged in training directly associated with any of the aforesaid activities: | ||
Provided that such young persons are allowed equivalent compensatory rest times within 3 weeks of having ceased to engage in the aforesaid activities. | ||
(6) A young person shall not be entitled to be paid in respect of the break specified in subsection (1) (e). | ||
(7) An employer who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence. |