Seasonal periods, such as the summer holidays, tend to see an increase in school-aged individuals (14-18-year olds) looking for part time work. In Northern Ireland, 'young worker’ means any worker who has not attained the age of 18 and who is over the compulsory school age. School leaving age is defined in law as those who will be 16 years old by the end of the school year (1st July).

Under the Working Time Regulations (NI) 2016, young workers in NI are not allowed to work for a period exceeding eight hours a day, or 40 hours a week. This includes total work by the young worker, where a young worker has more than one employer, the young worker’s time shall be determined by aggregating the number of hours work for each employer. Employers must take ‘all reasonable steps, in keeping with the need to protect the health and safety of workers’ to ensure that these limits are complied with.

If a young worker’s shift exceeds four and a half hours, they are entitled to a rest break of at least 30 minutes. If possible, this should be taken consecutively and spent away from the workstation.

Young workers are expressly prohibited from doing night work. The restricted period for young workers is defined as between 10pm and 6am, or where the young worker is contracted to work after 10pm, the period is between 11pm and 7am.

Night shift restrictions are not applicable when the young worker is employed within a hospital or similar establishment, nor in connection with cultural, artistic or advertising activities.

For the following types of employment, the restricted period is between midnight and 4 a.m.:

• agriculture;
• retail trading;
• postal or newspaper deliveries;
• a catering business;
• a hotel, public house, restaurant, bar or similar establishment; or
• a bakery, except when working between midnight and 4am.

There is an exception to the requirements on maximum workings hours and rest breaks when there is no adult worker available to perform the work. Such a circumstance must be exceptional, unusual and unforeseeable, beyond the employer's control or of temporary nature which must performed immediately. When this exception applies the young worker must be entitled to an equivalent period of compensatory rest within the following three weeks.