Children and paid work
Your eleven year old has just announced that she has taken a job distributing junk mail so that she can save up for an ipod.
Do you applaud her initiative? Worry about the risks she might encounter? Fret about her out on the streets alone in the winter evenings? Tell her you will buy her an ipod for her birthday next month?
She scoffs at your concerns and looks forward to this new adventure. She got the idea from a schoolmate whose whole family has jobs. They are a migrant family and they are all doing their bit as the family gets itself established in New Zealand - the parents run a small retail business while the children all contribute by having after school jobs.
In another sole parent family, the two young teens make a contribution to the meagre family income by working in the local supermarket. All these children are very vulnerable because New Zealand does not have any labour laws relating to children under the age of 15 years who work.
If you have a youngster with a job you need therefore to take particular interest in what they are doing and ensure that they are safe and not being exploited.
Did you know, for example, that ...
- New Zealand has no legal minimum age of employment
- New Zealand has no minimum wage rate for workers under the age of 16 years.
- Sixteen and seventeen year olds are entitled to the same minimum wage as adults.
- Children under 16 years have no legal entitlement to things such as meal breaks, rest periods, sick leave or annual leave unless they are provided in an industrial agreement applying to the child workers - and there are not many of those.
- Most child delivery workers do not have the protections available to posties because they are employed as contractors and not as workers. This means they are responsible for their own safety conditions, provision of their own equipment, and other basic worker rights.
And did you know that
- On average one young person under 15 years old is killed in a work related accident annually.
- ACC assistance is paid for work-related injuries to about 10 children under 9 years; about 15 10-14 year olds; and 1-2,000 15- 19 year olds.
- About 300 under 15 year olds will need to see a GP for a work injury every year.
What about school life and study?
It is illegal to employ a child in a job which prevents that child from attending school classes.
However, a part-time job can still have a bad effect on a child's school and study in various ways. An after-school job, for example, can interfere with the child participating in after-school sports, clubs or cultural activities.
Older children tend to take on week-end work, but this too can interfere with school sports and other weekend activities.
Young bodies are not designed for long or heavy physical work. Work can result in the child turning up at school tired and less likely to be able to concentrate fully on their school work.
The working hours and tiredness can also interfere with the child's ability to do their homework properly.
Parents need to carefully monitor the effects of the job on the child's schooling.
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