YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) g S.L.452.92 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 452.92
YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) 
REGULATIONS
5th April, 2004
LEGAL NOTICE 440 of 2003.
Title and scope.
(Employment) Regulations.
(2) The purpose of these regulations is to:
( a ) prohibit work by children;
( b ) establish that the minimum employment age shall not
be lower than the minimum age at which compulsory
full-time schooling ends;
( c ) regulate work by adolescents and young persons; and
( d ) ensure that employers guarantee that young people
have working conditions which suit their age and are
protected against economic exploitation and against
any work likely to harm their safety, health or
physical, mental, moral or social development or to
jeopardise their education.
(3) These regulations shall apply to any person under eighteen
years of age having a contract of employment or any form of
employment relationship with an employer.
(4) These regulations shall not apply to occasional work or
short-term work involving -
( a ) domestic service in a private household, or
( b ) work in a family undertaking:
Provided that, in either case, the work to be performed
cannot be regarded as being harmful, damaging or dangerous to a
young person.
(5) These regulations shall come into force on the 5th April,
2004.
Interpretation.
Cap. 452.
Cap. 327.
''adolescent'' means any young person who has reached sixteen
years of age, or any other age which may from time to time be
established as the school leaving age by virtue of the Education
Act, but is less than eighteen years of age;
Cap. 327.
''child'' means any young person, of either sex, who is under
sixteen years of age, or any other age which may from time to time
be established as the school leaving age by virtue of the Education
Act;
2 g S.L.452.92 YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT)
''Director'' shall have the same meaning assigned to it by article 2
of the Act;
Cap. 327.
''Director of Education'' has the same meaning assigned to it by
article 2 of the Education Act;
''light work'' means all work which, on account of the inherent
nature of the tasks which it involves and the particular conditions
under which the tasks are performed:
S.L. 424.18
( a ) has been shown by a risk assessment, in terms of the
General Provisions for Health and Safety at
Workplaces Regulations, and any other relevant health
and safety legislation which may be in force from time
to time, carried out by the employer to the satisfaction
of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, to be
work which is not likely to be harmful to the safety,
health or development of children; and
( b ) the Director of Education has no objection to the
carrying out of such work on the grounds that such
work is harmful to their attendance at school, their
participation in vocational guidance or training
programmes approved by the Minister responsible for
education or by such other person duly authorised by
the said Minister to act on his behalf, or their capacity
to benefit from the instruction received;
Cap. 424.
''Occupational Health and Safety Authority'' means the Authority
established by virtue of the Health and Safety Authority Act;
''parent'' includes any person having the legal care or custody of a
young person;
''rest period'' means any period which is not working time;
''working time'' means any period during which the young person
is at work, at the employer’s disposal and carrying out his activity
or duties;
''work'' includes any duty, activity, task or service producing a
product or result, and being performed for payment or for free or in
exchange for goods, for services, for profit or for benefit;
''young person'' means any person under eighteen years of age.
(2) Subject to the provisions of subregulation (1), terms and
expressions used in these regulations shall, unless the context
otherwise requires, have the meaning assigned to them in the Act.
Work by children.
Cap. 327.
3. (1) Subject to subregulation (2) and (3), no person shall
employ a child unless the child has been granted written permission
in terms of the provisions of article 43(2) of the Education Act.
(2) An employer shall apply to the Director for written
authorisation to employ a child in cultural, artistic, sports or
advertising activities, and the Director may issue such
authorisation, in individual cases, for the employment of a child in
such activities:
Provided that:
YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) g S.L.452.92 3
S.L. 424.18
( a ) the employer carries out a risk assessment, in terms of
the General Provisions for Health and Safety at
Workplaces Regulations, and any other relevant health
and safety legislation which may be in force from time
to time, to the satisfaction of the Occupational Health
and Safety Authority, which shows that such activities
are not likely to be harmful to the safety, health or
development of the child; and
( b ) the Director of Education has no objection to the
carrying out of such activities on the grounds that such
work is not likely to have an adverse effect on the
child’s attendance at school, or on his participation in
vocational guidance or training programmes approved
by the Minister responsible for education or by such
other person duly authorised by the said Minister to act
on his behalf, or on the capacity to benefit from the
instruction received.
(3) Subregulation (1) shall not apply in respect of the
employment of children who are at least:
( a ) thirteen years of age and the employment is for the
purposes of taking part in cultural, artistic, sports,
advertising or educational activities, approved by the
Minister responsible for education:
Provided that the employer shall submit a written
notification to the Director prior to employing such
children and shall abide with the provisions of
subregulation (4);
or who are:
( b ) fourteen years of age, if they are:
(i) working under a combined work/training scheme
or an in-plant work-experience scheme approved
by the Minister responsible for education:
Provided that the employer shall submit
written notification to the Director prior to
employing such children; or
(ii) performing light work other than that covered by
subregulations (2) and (3)( a ):
Provided that the employer shall seek written
authorisation from the Director prior to
employing such children.
(4) In issuing the authorisation referred to in subregulation (2),
and in the cases referred to in subregulation (3)( a ), the Director
may, at his discretion, attach such conditions as the Director deems
fit on any issue relating to the conditions of employment of
children, including on working time, night work, rest periods, and
breaks, and it shall be the duty of an employer of such a child to
comply fully with these conditions:
Provided that under no circumstance shall these conditions
be less favourable than the conditions of work applicable to
children referred to in subregulation (3)( b ).
4 g S.L.452.92 YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT)
(5) The authorisation granted by the Director referred to in
subregulation (2) and subregulation (4) may be withdrawn at any
time, and any decision taken by the Director on any issue related to
the employment of children and relating to the conditions of
employment in this regard shall be final.
Working time. 4 . (1) The working time for a child who is authorised to work
in terms of regulation 3(3)( b ) shall not exceed that shown in the
Schedule.
(2) The working time for adolescents shall not exceed eight
hours a day and forty hours a week.
(3) Any time spent on training by a young person working
under a theoretical and, or practical combined work, training
scheme or an in-plant work-experience scheme shall be counted as
working time.
(4) ( a ) Where a young person is employed by more than one
employer, working days and working time shall be
cumulative and shall not exceed the working days and
working times established by these regulations.
( b ) It shall be the duty of the employer to ascertain
whether a young person is performing work for another
employer and to ascertain the working time in any
other employment.
( c ) If a young person has more than one employment, it
shall also be the duty of the parent, in the case of
employment of a child, or in the case of the
employment of an adolescent, the duty of the
adolescent, to inform the employer of the hours of
work carried out for another employer.
( d ) An employer shall not permit a young person to carry
out any form of work on any day on which that young
person has done any form of work for any other
employer, unless the aggregate working time with
more than one employer on that day does not exceed
the total time for which such a young person may
lawfully work for one employer on that day according
to these regulations.
(5) Whenever an employer employs a young person in
contravention of the preceding sub-regulation, the employer shall
be guilty of an offence and the young person, if he or she is an
adolescent, or the parent in the case of a child, shall also be guilty
of an offence.
(6) Whenever an employer is prosecuted for an offence under
this regulation, it shall be a defence for him to prove:
( a ) that he did not know, and could not by reasonable
enquiry have known, that the employee had carried out
work for any other employer on the day in respect of
which the prosecution is brought; or
( b ) that he did not know, or could not by reasonable
enquiry have known, that the aggregate of the periods
YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) g S.L.452.92 5
for which the employee worked on that day exceeded
the period for which the employee could lawfully work
for one employer on that day.
Night work.
perform work between 8 p.m. on any one day and 6 a.m. of the
following day.
(2) Subject to the provisions of subregulations (3) and (4), no
adolescent shall perform work between 10 p.m. on any one day and
6 a.m. of the following day.
(3) The Director may, at his discretion, and if there are
exceptional circumstances affecting a particular branch of activity
or a particular area of work, grant authorisation for work to be
performed by adolescents in specific areas of activity during the
period in which night work is prohibited:
Provided that in such cases:
( a ) the adolescent shall be supervised by an adult where a
risk assessment performed by the employer, to the
satisfaction of the Occupational Health and Safety
Authority, has shown that this is necessary on grounds
of health and safety; and
( b ) in any case, no work shall be carried out between
midnight and 4 a.m:
Cap. 327.
Provided further that an adolescent attending an educational
institution approved under the Education Act shall not be assigned
any work between midnight and 6 a.m. on any weekday during the
period the adolescent is expected to attend such educational
institution.
(4) The provisions of subregulation (2) prohibiting night work
shall not apply for work performed in the following sectors, if there
are objective grounds for such work to be carried out at night and
provided that suitable compensatory rest is allowed and that the
principles set out in regulation 1(2) are safeguarded:
( a ) shipping or fisheries sectors;
( b ) hospitals or similar establishments;
( c ) cultural, artistic, sports or advertising activities.
Daily and weekly 
rest periods.
6. (1) Children employed in terms of regulation 3(3)( b ) shall
be entitled to:
( a ) a minimum daily rest period of fourteen consecutive
hours for each twenty-four hour period; and
( b ) a minimum weekly rest period of two consecutive days
in any calendar week, one day of which shall be a
Sunday.
(2) Adolescents shall be entitled to:
( a ) a minimum daily rest period of twelve consecutive
hours for each twenty-four hour period; and
( b ) a minimum weekly rest period of two days in any
6 g S.L.452.92 YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT)
calendar week, which shall if possible be consecutive
and which in principle, shall include Sunday.
(3) The employer may, in exceptional circumstances and where
justified by technical or organisation reasons, submit a written
request to the Director for authorisation to reduce the minimum
weekly rest period referred to in subregulation (1) and (2), but this
may in no circumstance be less than thirty-six consecutive hours.
Such authorisation by the Director shall be given in writing:
Provided that the employer shall give the reasons for his
request and keep a copy of the authorisation.
(4) The minimum rest periods referred to in this regulation may
be split up in the case of activities involving separate periods of
work spread over the day or are of short duration.
(5) Subject to objective reasons, the provisions of
subregulation (2) shall not apply for work performed in the
following sectors:
( a ) shipping or fisheries;
( b ) hospitals or similar establishments;
( c ) agriculture;
( d ) tourism industry, hotels and catering;
( e ) activities involving periods of work split up over the
day:
Provided that the employee is granted appropriate
compensatory rest time and that the purposes of these regulations
set out in regulation 1(2) are safeguarded.
Annual rest. 7. A child employed in terms of regulation 3(3)( b ) shall have
an aggregate minimum of twenty-one days free of any work during
the child’s school holidays.
Breaks. 8. (1) An employer shall not require or permit a young person
to work for any period exceeding four and a half hours without an
uninterrupted break of at least thirty minutes.
(2) A young person shall not be entitled to be paid in respect of
the break specified in subregulation (1).
Work by 
adolescents in the 
event of  force 
majeure .
9. An employer may, in unusual and unforeseeable
circumstances beyond the employer’s control, or as a result of
exceptional events the consequences of which could not have been
avoided despite the exercise of all due care, allow adolescents to
carry out work and be exempted from the provisions of regulations
4(2), 5(2), 6(2)( a ) and 8:
Provided that:
( a ) such work is of a temporary nature and has to be
performed immediately;
( b ) that adult workers are not available to replace the
adolescents; and
( c ) that the adolescents are allowed equivalent
compensatory rest time within the following three
YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) g S.L.452.92 7
weeks.
Other duties of the 
employer.
10. (1) An employer who employs a young person shall:
( a ) before employing the young person, require the
production of a birth certificate, or other satisfactory
evidence attesting to the age of the young person;
( b ) before employing a young person, obtain the written
permission of a parent of the young person; and
( c ) maintain a register, or other satisfactory record,
including, in relation to every young person employed,
the following particulars:
(i) full name;
(ii) date of birth;
(iii) the time the young person commences and
finishes work each day;
(iv) the rate of wages or salary due to the young
person for his or her normal working hours each
day, week, month or year, as the case may be;
and
(v) the total amount actually paid to each young
person by way of wages or salary.
(2) An employer shall keep, at the place where a young person
is employed, such records as are necessary to show that the
provisions of these regulations are being complied with. Such
records shall be retained by the employer for at least three years.
(3) Where -
( a ) there is a dispute between an employer and employee,
or
( b ) there is a prosecution for an offence under these
regulations,
and the records required to be kept by an employer under the
preceding subregulations are not available, apart from being guilty
of an offence in terms of the provisions of subregulations (1) and
(2), the onus of proof that the provisions of any other regulation has
been complied with shall lie on the employer.
Offences.
any of the provisions of these regulations shall be guilty of an
offence against the Act.
(2) The parent of a young person who aids or abets an employer
in contravening any provision of these regulations shall be guilty of
an offence against the Act.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under these regulations shall
be liable, on conviction, to a fine ( multa ) of not less than two
hundred and fifty liri (Lm250) and to a further fine ( multa ) of not
less than fifty liri (Lm50) for every day during which the offence
continues after conviction:
Provided that an offence under this regulation shall
continue to subsist until the offender shall have conformed and
8 g S.L.452.92 YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT)
complied with the infringed provisions of these regulations.
Repeals less 
favourable 
provisions.
12. These regulations supersede any less favourable relevant
provisions in any regulations, orders or other subsidiary legislation
made under or kept in force under the Act, and any such relevant
provisions are hereby being revoked.
YOUNG PERSONS (EMPLOYMENT) g S.L.452.92 9
SCHEDULE
Regulation 4(1): Working time for a child
* The specified working time shall be without prejudice to the provisions of these regulations.
Description of work Age (years) Working time
( a ) Regulation 3(3)( b )(i): work
performed under a combined work
and, or training scheme, or an in-
plant work-experience scheme:
14-16 eight hours a day and 40 hoursa week;
( b ) Regulation 3(3)( b )(ii): light
work performed during school
term-time outside the fixed school
hours:
14-16 two hours on a school day and12 hours a week;
Provided that the maximum
daily working time shall be:
14- up to 15
over 15-16
( a ) seven hours per day;
( b ) eight hours per day;
( c ) Regulation 3(3)( b )(ii): light
work performed during a period of
at least a week during school
holidays:
14- up to 15
over 15-16
seven hours a day and 35 hours
a week*;
eight hours a day and 40 hours
a week*.
