Are you considering employing young workers over the school holidays?

If you are considering employing school age children or young workers over the holiday period then there are different restrictions applying to both categories.

In law, a "child" is a person who is not over "compulsory school age"; who has not yet lawfully left school. Most local authority by-laws prohibit the employment of school age children in occupations such as hotel kitchens, fish and chip shops and restaurants. I would urge you to contact your local education authority to see if your business would be prohibited from employing school age children.

The employment of school age children is regulated and under the legislation:

No child may be employed if they are under the age of 14

They may not be employed for more than 35 hours (or, if under 15, for more than 25 hours) in any one week where the child is not required to attend school

They cannot be employed before 7.00 am or after 7.00 pm

They may not be employed for more than eight hours (or, if under 15, for more than five hours) on any day or for more than two hours on a Sunday

They must receive a rest break lasting at least one hour if they work for more than four consecutive hours

Note; these apply when the child is not required to attend school, such as during school holiday periods. Please be aware that the restrictions differ during term time.

Before employing a school age child you must apply to the relevant local education authority for an Employment Certificate.

Young workers are those who are over the minimum school leaving age but have not yet reached the age of 18. You must ensure that young workers receive a 30 minute rest period if they are required to work over 4 and half hours in any one shift and also when assessing any risks to health and safety take into account lack of experience, lack of awareness of risk and lack of maturity.

How should you deal with employee absence if they are delayed returning from holiday?

With the volcanic ash situation returning to the headlines again this week, are you prepared should any of your employees be delayed returning from their holidays? Delays can happen for a number of reasons and you would need to agree a sensible approach with affected employees on how to account for their delay back to work. Granting the time off as annual leave entitlement or unpaid leave are clearly the most sensible options. However, whichever policy you adopt, you should ensure that you extend it to any employee who is affected, to retain fairness and consistency in your approach.

If an employee is delayed returning from holiday due to an unfortunate situation, such as their partner or travelling companion being hospitalised, then you would also want to consider either granting annual or unpaid leave. However, if the Company has a policy on dealing with emergencies then you could grant the additional time off under this policy – paid or unpaid depending on the policy. You will also need to have a conversation with your employee regarding how best to deal with unavoidable unfortunate events such as these

Finally, if an employee falls ill on holiday and subsequently does not return to work after their holiday has ended, then I would recommend that you follow your standard reporting procedure and requirements for supporting medical information. This includes the possibility of requesting a doctor's certificate while an employee is on holiday (even if abroad) certifying that, at that time, the employee was incapable of work. You should be aware that an employee may also request that their holiday be classed as sick leave if their illness started during their holiday. This would result in the employee being paid sick pay during this time and requesting they take their annual leave at another time.