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PROTECTION OF YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) ACT, 1977

Type Act
Publication 1977-04-06
Last updated 1996-06-26
State Repealed superseded text
Text As published
Source Irish Statute Book
articles 31

This is the act as published. Later amendments are not folded into the text below: each one is a separate act in this repository and an entry in this law's history.

28 amending acts · 1996-06-26, PROTECTION OF YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) ACT, 1996

Reform history JSON API

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG PERSONS AND TO MAKE PROVISION FOR MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. [6th April, 1977]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

1 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 Industrial work.

2.—(1) In this Act “industrial work” means—

3 Non-application of Act.

3.—(1) This Act, other than sections 4, 5 (1) (a), 5 (1) (b), 5 (4) and 6, shall not apply to work as—

4 Minimum age for employment.

4.—(1) Subject to the subsequent provisions of this section an employer shall not employ a child to do work.

Provided that—

Provided that during the period of the school summer holidays, the child does not do any work for a period of not less than fourteen consecutive days.

5 Duties of employer of young person or child.

5.—(1) Any employer who employs a young person or child to work for him shall—

6 Power of Minister to raise minimum age for employment.

6.—The Minister may, after consultation with representatives of employers interested in the class of work involved and with representatives of employees so interested, in the case of any work which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to endanger the health, welfare, safety or morals of employees, by order, raise the minimum age at which an employee may be employed to do such work.

7 Normal working hours.

7.—(1) In this Act “normal working hours” in relation to an employee means—

and

and

8 Maximum hours of work for young persons under the age of sixteen years.

8.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, an employer shall not permit an employee who is a young person under the age of sixteen years in his employment to work for him for more than—

9 Maximum hours of work for young persons over the age of sixteen years.

9.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, an employer shall not permit an employee who is a young person over the age of sixteen years in his employment to work for him for more than—

10 Overtime pay.

10.—(1) In this section—

“overtime” means any hours worked in excess of normal working hours;

“overtime pay” means the rate of pay which an employee is entitled to in respect of normal working hours increased by not less than twenty-five per cent.

11 Vocational training in normal working hours.

11.—Any time spent with the consent of his employer by a young person in vocational training during normal working hours shall be deemed to be hours worked by him for the purposes of section 8 and 9 of this Act.

12 Intervals for rest.

12.—(1) In this section “stated number of hours” in relation to an employee means—

113 Entitlement of employee to rest.

13.—(1) When an employee is employed by an employer to work on more than five days in a week and the employee is also required to do more than three hours work on a Sunday, the employer shall ensure that the conditions of employment of every such employee are such that the employee will have at least twenty-four consecutive hours rest without pay in every period of seven days.

14 Restriction on the employment of young persons at night.

14.—(1) An employer shall neither permit a young person to do any work at any time between the hour of 10 p.m. on any day and the hour of 6 a.m. on the following day nor permit a young person to do any work until the expiration of twelve hours from the time at which he ceased to do work on the previous day.

15 Restriction on the employment of children at night.

15.—(1) An employer shall neither permit a child to do work at any time between the hour of 8 p.m. on any day and 8 a.m. on the following day nor permit a child to do any work until the expiration of fourteen hours from the time at which he ceased to do work on the previous day.

16 Prohibition of double employment.

16.—(1) An employer shall not permit an employee to do for him any form of work on any day on which the employee has done any form of work for any other employer, except where the aggregate of the periods for which the employee does work for such employers on that day does not exceed the period for which such employee could lawfully be employed to do work for one employer on that day.

17 Exceptions and exemptions.

17.—(1) The Minister may, in any case where he is satisfied that the health, welfare and safety of employees are not endangered, by regulations, modify any provision of this Act in respect of any undertaking, industry, class of employees or class of work where, in his opinion, compliance with such provision would, in relation to that undertaking, industry, class of employees or class of work, be impracticable because of the seasonal nature or technical requirements of that class of work or other substantial reasons.

18 Recovery of money due to any employee.

18.—(1) Any sum of money due to an employee from his employer under any provision of this Act shall be recoverable by the employee from his employer as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.

19 Display of abstract of Act.

19.—(1) Every employer shall display at the principal entrances to the premises where any of his employees works, and in such other places as an inspector may require, in such a position that it may be easily read by employees so employed, the prescribed abstract of this Act.

20 Preservation of existing rates of wages.

20.—(1) Where, in order to comply with the provisions of this Act, the hours of work prevailing immediately before the commencement of this Act in regard to all employees or any particular employee employed in any particular form of work are reduced or are otherwise altered, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:

21 Emergency as defence.

21.—(1) It shall be a good defence to any proceedings taken against any person for a breach of any of the provisions of this Act if such person shows to the satisfaction of the court before which such proceedings are brought that any act occasioning such breach was rendered necessary or reasonably proper by the actual occurrence or the threat or reasonable anticipation of fire, flood, storm, violence, a breakdown of plant or machinery or any other emergency.

22 Offences by bodies corporate.

22.—(1) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate or by a person purporting to act on behalf of a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any default on the part of any person, being a director, manager, secretary, or other officer of the body corporate, that person shall also be guilty of the offence.

23 Prosecution of offences.

23.—(1) Proceedings in relation to an offence under this Act relating to an employee may be brought and prosecuted by the Minister or by the trade union of which the employee is a member or by the parent or guardian of the employee.

24 Penalties.

24.—A person who commits an offence under this Act shall be liable on summary conviction—

25 Regulations.

25.—The Minister may make regulations—

26 Records.

26.—(1) The employer shall keep such records as are necessary to show whether the provisions of this Act are being complied with in relation to his employees, and such records shall be retained by the employer for at least three years.

and the records required to be kept by the employer under subsection (1) of this section are not available, the onus of proving that the provisions of this Act have been complied with shall lie on the employer.

27 Powers of inspectors.

27.—(1) An inspector may for the purposes of this Act do all or any of the following things:

such person shall be guilty of an offence.

28 Laying of certain draft orders, orders and regulations before Houses of Oireachtas.

28.—(1) Whenever an order is proposed to be made under section 3, 4 (5), 4 (6), 7, 8 or 9 of this Act, a draft of the proposed order shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.

29 Repeals.

29.—Each enactment mentioned in column (2) of the Schedule to this Act is hereby repealed to the extent specified in column (3) of that Schedule.

30 Expenses.

30.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall be paid out of monies provided by the Oireachtas.

31 Short title and commencement.

31.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, 1977.

SCHEDULE Enactments Repealed
Number and Year Short Title Extent of Repeal
1936, No. 2 Conditions of Employment Act, 1936. Sections 13, 14, 39, 40 and 47.
1936, No. 42 Night Work (Bakeries) Act, 1936. Section 3 (1) (b).
1938, No. 4 Shops (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1938. Sections 16, 17 and 19.

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