Achi news desk-
Quebec City –
It will soon be a year since the Quebec legislature adopted the law respecting the regulation of child labor, under the auspices of Minister Jean Bevelt. Did he achieve his goals?
“Yes,” says Bolt in an interview with the Canadian newspaper. He notes a significant decrease in work accidents among young people.
The law sets the minimum working age in Quebec at 14, with some exceptions, and prohibits 14- to 16-year-olds from working more than 17 hours per week during the school year, excluding holidays.
The minister set two goals: ensuring the health and safety of the children and promoting the preservation of the school and educational success.
The law entered into force in two stages: employers who employed a young person under the age of 14 had 30 days from June 1, 2023 to send them a layoff notice.
Three months later, on September 1, young people aged 14 to 16 saw their working hours limited to 17 per week (including weekends) during the school year, excluding holidays.
From Monday to Friday, this means a maximum of 10 hours.
Armed with a preliminary assessment, Minister Bolt claims that the law had a positive effect on young people. By 2023, work injuries among minors will decrease by 19 percent compared to 2022.
For those under 14, this represents a 33.3 percent drop, and for those 16 and under, a 17 percent drop.
Looking closely at the months from June to December 2023, the months after the enactment of the law, the data show even more: under 14 saw a 41 percent decrease in work accidents compared to the corresponding period in 2022, and 16 and under, a 17 percent decrease.
“I am very pleased,” said Bulla, smiling. “Remember what drove us. From 2017 to 2022, there was a 640 percent increase in work injuries among those under 14, 80 percent among those 16 and under.”
“As a company, we can be proud of our contribution to reducing the number of childhood injuries,” he added. “We applied the brakes on the uphill slope … we need to continue in the same direction.”
As for student retention, the minister says that he is awaiting data from the Réseau québécois pour la réussite educative, which will be updated this fall, before drawing any conclusions.
582 compliance checks
To enforce the law, the Commission for Standards, Equality, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) carried out 582 compliance inspections between June and December 2023.
Ten offenses were found, four of which relate to the prohibition of work for a child under the age of 14.
Three referred to the requirement to receive and keep the written consent of the holder of parental authority to work, exceptionally, with a child under the age of 14.
One offense referred to failure to comply with the ban on employing a child between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.; Another concerned the obligation to register the date of birth of an employee under the age of 18.
A final offense involved a child working more than 17 hours per week, or 10 hours Monday through Friday.
The law sets heavy fines for offending employers: $1,200 for a first offense and $12,000 for a repeat offense. Of the 10 violations, only one fine was given, and the employer decided to appeal it.
The minister does not hide the fact that there was “opposition”, mainly in the restaurant and retail industries, who called for increased flexibility on the part of the government, mainly to allow young people under the age of 14 to get part-time work. discharge.
However, with the Comité consultatif du travail et de la main-d’uvre, a group of trade unions and employers’ organizations, “we reached a consensus … and that gives … support to oppose,” he says.
For parents who do not agree with the law because they prefer their 12-13 year old child to work instead of sitting in front of a screen, the minister said that children should be encouraged to develop in other ways, through play.
“There are summer camps, reading, playing with friends, outdoor activities. You can’t say, ‘If my child doesn’t work, he’ll just be on the screen.'” You have to make sure your child is well taken care of, and that means there are a lot of educational activities during the summer,” Bolt said.
“It is also the parents’ responsibility to make sure their children do their homework.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 27, 2024.
