The bill also makes 14 the youngest age to work
Tanya Faulds, who was 16 at the time, would get angry every time she had to go back to her old job and tell her boss that she only wanted to work 15 hours a week.
The Quebec High School student who used to work at a McDonald’s says, “They always gave me more hours, and I never had time for school. I always had to ask other people to take my shifts.”
So, she is happy about a new bill in the province that sets rules for how young people can work.
The proposed law, which was put forward on Tuesday, would limit 16-year-olds and younger in Quebec to 17 hours of work per week during the school year. It also says that the youngest person who can legally work is 14 years old, with some exceptions for jobs like babysitting or tutoring.
Jean Boulet, the minister of labor in Quebec, says that the bill will help keep kids from getting hurt at work and keep teens from dropping out of school.
He pointed to a sign and said, “Their first job is to go to school.”studyThat showed 31% of students who work more than 16 hours a week quit school.
Felix Turner-Dufour, a student in grade 5, doesn’t agree with the cap.
The 16-year-old who works for the city of Quebec said, “Sometimes I work over 24 hours a week, and I really think we should be able to work more if we want to, if we want to be financially independent from our parents or save up for a trip or something.”
He says that he has always been able to get his schoolwork done.
Minimum working age set at 1
At the moment, if a business wants to hire a child, they can do so as long as they get permission from the child’s parents. This would change under the new law, which would make 14 the legal minimum age to work.
There are some exceptions, like when a child works in the performing arts, delivers newspapers, or works in a family business with fewer than 10 employees.
Employers who don’t follow the rules could be fined up to $12,000 for the first time they break the law.
Young people are getting hurt on the job more and more
Companies are being pushed to hire younger workers because of a lack of workers, Boulet said. Because of this trend, there are more accidents at work involving children and teens.
The CSSST, which is Quebec’s workplace safety board, says that the number of children under 14 who got hurt on the job went from 10 in 2017 to 64 in 2021.
“I was raised in the country. I’ve lifted haystacks, but I’ve seen many of my friends and even myself end up with back problems as a result “said Boulet. “That’s our top priority: making sure [children] are healthy, safe, and doing well in school.”
The minister also says that the bill was inspired by an accident that happened at Village Vacances Valcartier last June involving a 14-year-old worker.
The leader of the biggest group of employers in the province,Conseil du patronat du Québec, backs the stricter rules, but Karl Blackburn is worried about how they will affect the tourism and restaurant industries.
“We don’t have to put the job of fixing the lack of workers on the backs of young people,” he said. He said that he would like to work with the government to look into the possibility of exemptions for certain industries.
Radio-Boulet Canada’s told the show’sTout un matinThe restaurant industry was included in the bill because it can be a tough place to work, especially in the kitchen and with adults.
“We have to think about the psychological risks for children,” he says.
He says that the bill won’t have much of an effect on the lack of workers.