Last updated 9 July 2024

It is a general principle under the Child Employment Act 2006 (Qld) (Child Employment Act) and Child Employment Regulation 2016 (Qld) (Child Employment Regulation) that children under 13 years of age are not able to work (unless this work is in the entertainment industry or a family business). There is an exception for children aged at least 11 to do delivery work. Children of any age are able to do volunteer work (r 4 Child Employment Regulation). School students aged over 14 years of age and who have written consent from their parent or guardian can participate in work experience under s 12 of the Education (Work Experience) Act 1996 (Qld) (Education Act).

Children aged 13 and over or children engaging in volunteer work must not work between 10 pm and 6 am. Children who are 11 or 12 years old may not do delivery work between 6 pm and 6 am (r 7 Child Employment Regulation). There are also limits on the number of hours that children can work. Generally, school-aged children cannot work more than 12 hours during a school week or 38 hours during a non-school week. Children cannot work more than four hours per day on school days or eight hours per day on a non-school day (r 9 Child Employment Regulation).

Section 11 of the Child Employment Act states that it is an offence if a parent allows their child to work during school hours without a reasonable excuse.

Family businesses are exempt from the minimum age, maximum hours, prohibited hours and break requirements imposed by the Child Employment Act and Child Employment Regulation.

Part 2 div 4 of the Child Employment Regulation impose a specific obligation on any employer of children to ensure that children are not subject to deliberate or unnecessary social isolation or any behaviour likely to intimidate, threaten, frighten or humiliate the child. Employers also have obligations in certain circumstances to contact a child’s parents including if the child is injured or becomes sick while at work.

Children who work may be covered by an award covering the industry they are working in, or the sort of job they are performing, or an Enterprise Agreement covering their employer specifically. Employers should provide children with a copy of any applicable award or enterprise agreement when they start their employment. Details of awards and enterprise agreements are also available on the Fair Work Commission website.

If an award or enterprise agreement provides for junior rates of pay, children will receive this rate of pay, determined according to their age. Junior rates of pay increase each year on a child’s birthday until they turn 21 years old. If an award or enterprise agreement does not include junior pay rates, children and young people aged under 21 years of age will get the relevant percentage of the national minimum wage. Paying a child a junior rate of pay is not considered to be discrimination on the basis of age. Information on junior rates of pay can be found on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Children are also protected against sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, general protections and unfair dismissal under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act). Employers also owe work health and safety obligations to children who work for them under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld). For further information on these issues, see the chapters on Employment and Discrimination and Human Rights of this handbook.

Apprenticeships and traineeships

Students in Years 10, 11 or 12 are able to enter into a school-based apprenticeship or trainee contract with an employer. Children who have finished or left school can also complete an apprenticeship or traineeship. Apprenticeships and traineeships can be either part time or full time.

An apprenticeship generally takes up to four years to complete and involves training in a skilled trade (e.g. plumbing or hairdressing).

A traineeship can take between 12 months to three years to complete and can allow students to receive training in a vocational area such as ICT, hospitality or business via training with a registered training organisation.

Children who complete an apprenticeship or traineeship can be awarded a qualification ranging from a Certificate II up to an Advanced Diploma.

There are a number of requirements in the Further Education and Training Act 2014 (Qld) (FET Act) regarding contracts for apprenticeships and traineeships. An employer will commit an offence if there is not a signed contract in place that is signed by the employer, the child and the child’s parents. This contract must be registered with the Chief Executive of the Queensland Government Department of Employment, Small Business and Training.

During the course of an apprenticeship or traineeship, it is possible to amend, extend, transfer, suspend or cancel the contract. To amend, extend, transfer or suspend the contract, the party must apply or give notice to the Chief Executive of the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training. The various requirements of these processes are set out in the FET Act. An employer may seek to suspend an apprenticeship or traineeship contract because they are no longer able to provide training for the apprentice or trainee. There must be a show cause notice given before the contract can be suspended and parties are able to give a written response to the chief executive about why the contract should or should not be suspended.

A party can apply in writing to the chief executive to cancel an apprenticeship or traineeship if they cannot meet their obligations in the contract or if they believe that the other party will not meet their obligations. A show cause notice must also be given in this circumstance before the contract can be cancelled, and parties are able to give a written response to the chief executive about why the contract should or should not be cancelled. It is also possible for an apprenticeship or traineeship contract to be cancelled in a limited number of circumstances in s 36 of the FTE Act, including where the employer has ceased business.

Employers owe a number of obligations to apprentices and trainees, including properly supervising apprentices and trainees. Apprentices and trainees are classed as employees and are therefore able to access workers compensation if they are injured at work. Apprentices and trainees are also protected by the Fair Work Act.

For further practical information about the rights and obligations of apprentices and trainees, see the Queensland Department of Employment, Small Business and Training website.

Casual work

It is not unusual for children to be engaged in casual work. Casual workers have different rights and entitlements to ongoing work, rates of pay and leave compared to permanent full-time or part-time employees.

The Fair Work Act defines a casual employee as someone who accepts an offer of employment knowing that there is no firm advance commitment to ongoing work with an agreed pattern.

An award or enterprise agreement may require minimum shift lengths for casual workers.

Employers are not obliged or required to offer casual employees regular or ongoing work. Casual workers are employed on a shift basis meaning that their employment starts at the beginning of a shift and ends at the end of the shift.

Under the National Employment Standards, casual employees are entitled to:

  • two days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion
  • two days of compassionate leave per occasion
  • ten days family and domestic violence leave per calendar year
  • unpaid community service leave.

Casual employees are not entitled to other types of leave such as annual leave. Employers are not required to provide notice to casual employees if they want to terminate the employment. Casual employees are also not entitled to redundancy pay. Casual employees are paid a higher rate of pay because of these different entitlements.

If a child works for over 12 months with an employer as a casual worker, they are able to request that they be converted to a full-time or part-time employee. An employer is able to refuse an employee’s casual conversion request if there are reasonable grounds to refuse the request.  An employer must give their decision to the employee within 21 days of the employee’s request.

A casual employee will not be eligible to make an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission unless they have completed the minimum employment period, which is either six months or one year if the employer is a small business, and if the casual employee was a regular casual employee who had a reasonable expectation of continuing employment on a regular and systematic basis.