Questions on economic exploitation, including child labour - Children’s Convention from the United Nations
Please provide information about the measures taken to:
Questions 28(a) to 28(e)
- Set a definition of the minimum age of employment in line with international standards;
- Amend the Health and Safety at Work Act, 2015, to ensure respect for children’s rights under any type of contract, including casual contracts;
- Include a provision in draft regulation number 54 to protect children under 18 years of age from hazardous work;
- Establish minimum wage guarantees for working children under 16 years of age;
- Raise awareness of the rights of working children.
Reply to 28(a) to 28(e)
New Zealand’s existing policy and legislative framework continues to provide age thresholds for entry into work in general, and for safe work.
New Zealand has not ratified the International Labour Organisations Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138). Rather than legislate for a single minimum age of employment, New Zealand has a range of protections and restrictions on young people’s work, mainly regulated by a combination of education and health and safety legislation.
The Education and Training Act 2020 mandates that all children in New Zealand attend school between the ages of six and 16 to ensure that young people achieve a proper education before entering the workforce. In addition, employers are explicitly prohibited from employing children under 16 during school hours or when it would interfere with their attendance at school.
The Government is committed to securing the health and safety of all young workers. New Zealand’s consistent approach to children’s employment is that our existing policies and legislative framework provides effective age thresholds for entry into work in general, and for safe work. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 covers all types of working relationships and arrangements, including casual contracts.
The Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 places restrictions on hiring children under the age of 15 to do certain work such as logging, construction and manufacturing - or any other work that is likely to cause harm. Further regulations protecting young people in the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 apply to workers under any type of contract.
As part of our ongoing regulatory reform programme, we are considering a range of aspects of youth health and safety at work, including the current settings for:
- how best to support young people transitioning into hazardous work
- how hazardous work is defined in a regulatory sense
- the age of entry to hazardous work.
MBIE’s Labour Inspectorate is responsible for enforcing compliance with employment standards to prevent and detect breaches. The Labour Inspectorate has a webpage dedicated to raising awareness for the rights of young people at work and prioritises its work through the application of three filters, one of which is ‘Vulnerable Youth’. This filter ensures that any employment standards breaches relating to young workers are dealt with swiftly through the enforcement tools available to the Labour Inspectorate.
The Starting-Out Wage replaced the new entrants’ minimum wage and training minimum wage for under 20s in 2013. The Starting-Out Wage is aimed at reducing unemployment rates for 16 to 19-year-olds, particularly those at risk of long-term labour market disadvantage from prolonged unemployment and spells of inactivity. This is to be achieved by improving incentives for employers to give work opportunities to the targeted young people. These young people may be paid 80% of the minimum wage for the first six months of their employment or for as long as they are undertaking training involving at least 40 credits a year. However, if the young person is undertaking a supervisory role, they must be paid the same minimum wage that over-20s are entitled to.
