Canadian Payroll Reporter

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 News CPR | August 2018 New rules coming for hiring young workers Alberta, Manitoba aligning youth employment rules with international obligations BY SHEILA BRAWN NEW RULES for employing young people will soon apply in Alberta and Manitoba. In the past year, both prov- inces have passed amendments to their employment standards laws to better align youth em- ployment rules with Canada's international labour obligations. In June of 2016, Canada rati- fied the International Labour Organization's (ILO's) Mini- mum Age Convention, 1973, also called Convention 138. It came into force here in June 2017. The ILO is a United Nations agency made up of representa- tives from government, employ- ers, and workers. Its mandate is to set international labour stan- dards and to develop policies and programs to promote de- cent working conditions. Convention 138 requires countries ratifying it to set a minimum age for full-time em- ployment at either 15 years or the age at which going to school is no longer compulsory, which is at least 16 throughout Canada. "The intent of the convention is to prevent children from leav- ing school to join the workforce full time. It is not intended to in- terfere with part-time jobs that young people may have outside of school hours," said Josh Bueckert, senior media relations spokes- person with Employment and Social Development Canada. "For instance, under the con- vention, children aged 13 to 15 are allowed to perform 'light work,' such as babysitting or delivering newspapers, that is not likely to be harmful to their health, development or atten- dance at school." From a federal employment standards perspective, the Can- ada Labour Code is already "gen- erally well aligned" with Con- vention 138, said Bueckert. "The Canada Labour Code currently specifies a minimum age of 17 for hazardous work, while the convention has a mini- mum age of 18 years old for haz- ardous work. However, there is flexibility enshrined in the convention that permits the em- ployment of 16 and 17 year olds in hazardous work, subject to appropriate training and safety protections," he said. Although the federal govern- ment signed and ratified the convention, it does not have the authority to implement provi- sions in areas of provincial and territorial jurisdiction, such as employment standards, said Bueckert. "The (federal) labour program has worked extensively with the provinces and territories to fa- cilitate technical reviews and to ensure that they have all the in- formation they need to ensure compliance with the convention. The federal government will continue to work closely with provinces and territories during the implementation phase of the convention," he said. Alberta was the first province to announce legislative changes to ensure its employment rules met Convention 138 require- ments. The provincial legisla- ture passed employment stan- dards amendments affecting youth employment last year. The changes are expected to come into force on Sept. 1. "Alberta's workplace rules do not align with our international labour obligations, such as the see CHANGES page 8

• Cover