Labor relations with a minor employee

Federal Law No. 139-FZ dated July 1, 2017 expanded the opportunities for employers to hire minors. Before this, it was possible to conclude an employment contract with a teenager only during free time from study, and the rules for the employment of those who completed their studies or were expelled were not established by law at all.

Now, in fact, even children under 14 years old can be hired, but subject to a number of conditions and restrictions. The age at which it is permissible to conclude an employment contract is introduced by Art. 63 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

As can be seen from the table above, the key characteristics of the work for which minors are accepted by law: the work should not be detrimental to health and moral development, it should be easy. The list of works to which minors cannot be allowed is given in detail in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 25, 2000 No. 163. In total there are more than 2000 such works, all of them are in one way or another connected with harmful and dangerous conditions.

Part 5 art. 282 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes restrictions on part-time work for people under 18 years of age.

Age restrictions

According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Article 63), it is allowed to employ citizens whose age has reached 16 years. Subject to certain conditions, employment of citizens under the specified age is possible.

Official employment of minor citizens aged 14 to 18 years is permitted when the child is not in full-time education, has completed general education, or if studies have been terminated taking into account legal norms.

Attention! From the age of 14, children during periods not occupied by schoolwork are allowed only harmless and uncomplicated work that does not interfere with educational activities.

Citizens under 14 years of age can work in some structures (concert, circus, theater). But such activities should not harm the physical or moral health of the child (Article 63 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

To employ citizens under 16 years of age, permission from any of the guardians or parents and trustee structures, expressed in writing, is required.

What to do if the second parent does not agree to the conclusion of an employment contract for a person under 15 years of age ?

Termination of an employment contract with a minor employee

According to Article 269 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, employees under the age of 18 upon termination of an employment contract are provided with additional guarantees.
Termination of an employment contract with employees under the age of 18 at the initiative of the employer * in addition to compliance with the general procedure is allowed only with the consent of the relevant state labor inspectorate and the commission for the affairs of minors and the protection of their rights.

*Except in case of liquidation of an organization or termination of the activities of an individual entrepreneur.

In addition, according to paragraph 6 of Article 9 of the Federal Law of December 21, 1996. No. 159-FZ “On additional guarantees for social support for orphans and children left without parental care”, employees:

• orphans,
• children left without parental care,

released from organizations due to their liquidation, reduction of staff or staff, employers (their legal successors) are obliged to provide, at their own expense, the necessary vocational training with their subsequent employment in this or another organization.

Labor organization for teenage workers

For working minors, the law provides for reduced working hours (Articles 92, 94 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Taking into account age, the length of the working week for minor workers may vary. For 16-year-olds - no more than 24 hours and no more than 35 hours - for citizens from 16 to 18 years old.

Moreover, for children working at work during the school period, weekly work should take up to 12 and up to 17.5 hours, respectively.

Limitations on the duration of work during the day (shift) for minor employees from 15 to 16 years old are no more than 5 hours and no more than 7 hours for children from 16 to 18 years old. For persons simultaneously working and undergoing training, daily work should not be more than 2.5 hours for employees aged 14 to 16 years and less than 4 hours if the child is between 16 and 18 years old.

For teenagers, activity (production) standards are calculated on the basis of general indicators in proportion to the work time determined for them (reduced). For minors who come to the enterprise after completing their studies, reduced production rates are introduced in comparison with other categories of workers (Article 270 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Attention!

The basic labor rights of minors are enshrined in Article 37 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Minors who have reached a certain age have the right to control their ability to work, have the right to safe working conditions, wages, the right to rest, and protection of their labor rights.

Taking into account the psychophysical properties, characteristics and conditions of minors associated with their age, labor legislation establishes special rules regarding the use of their labor.

Chapter 42 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and a number of other articles of this code are directly devoted to the specifics of the legal regulation of labor for workers under the age of 18.

The conditions for concluding an employment contract with minor workers, as well as the length of their working day, depend on the age of the child. The employer is obliged to take this into account when hiring a minor employee.

Minors have the right to enter into employment contracts as a general rule from the age of 16, and in some cases at a younger age.

So, for example, a fifteen-year-old teenager can be hired to perform light labor without harm to his health.

A 14-year-old teenager who has received general education can also be hired to perform light labor if one of his parents and the guardianship authorities give written consent to this. If such a child is still receiving general education, then he will be able to work only in his free time from school.

If one of the parents is against concluding an employment contract with a child under 15 years of age, the opinion of the minor himself and the guardianship and trusteeship authority is taken into account.

Children under 14 years of age can work in cinema, theater, participate in concerts or circus performances, if the work does not cause damage to health and moral development. This also requires permission from one of the parents and the guardianship authority. The employment contract for such a child is signed by the parent (guardian).

In an employment contract with a person under the age of 18, in order to verify his compliance with the assigned work, a provision cannot be made for testing such an employee.

Minors cannot be involved in work under harmful and dangerous working conditions, in underground work, as well as in work the performance of which may harm their health and moral development (gambling business, work in nightclubs, production, transportation and trade in alcoholic beverages, tobacco products , narcotic and other toxic drugs, materials of erotic content).

In addition, employees under 18 years of age cannot be sent on business trips, nor can they be involved in overtime work, work at night, on weekends and non-working holidays (with the exception of creative media workers,

cinematography organizations, television and video crews, theaters, theatrical and concert organizations, circuses and other persons involved in the creation or performance (exhibition) of works, taking into account the opinion of the Russian Tripartite Commission for the Regulation of Social and Labor Relations).

The employer must also remember the reduced working hours for minors: under 16 years old - no more than 24 hours per week, from 16 to 18 years old - no more than 35 hours per week. When combining work with study at school, college or college, the child’s working time should be reduced by at least half.

At the same time, the work shift of children from 14 to 15 years old cannot exceed 4 hours, from 15 to 16 years old 5 hours, from 16 to 18 years old - 7 hours. When combining work with study, the duration of the shift is: reduced for children from 14 to 16 years old - to 2.5 hours, from 16 to 18 years old - to 4 hours,

Before concluding an employment contract, a minor citizen must undergo a mandatory medical examination, and then, until adulthood, undergo it annually. Such medical examinations are carried out at the expense of the employer.

When hiring for the first time, the employer is required to register

a work record book for a minor, as well as provide the Russian Pension Fund with data for registering the child in the personalized accounting system.

It should also be noted that minor workers have additional guarantees upon termination of an employment contract. Its termination at the initiative of the employer (except in the case of liquidation of an organization or termination of activities by an individual entrepreneur), in addition to compliance with the general procedure, is possible only with the consent of the state labor inspectorate and the commission for minors' affairs and protection their rights.

The employer must take into account that a minor has the right to use basic paid leave of 31 calendar days in the first year of work before the expiration of six months upon his personal application, and subsequently annually, at any time convenient for him. In addition, the law prohibits recalling such an employee from vacation, as well as replacing vacation with monetary compensation.

Along with this, deductions from the wages of a minor employee can be made only in cases of intentional damage, as well as damage caused while under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other toxic substances, or damage caused as a result of a crime or administrative offense.

Documents required when applying for a job

To get a teenager to work you need:

• document confirming the identity of the person entering the organization (general civil passport);
• confirmation of education, receipt of a certain qualification or certificate of suspension of education;
• work book (if available);
• document of a participant in the pension system (SNILS), except for the situation of hiring for the first place of work;
• confirmation of military registration (for boys);
• permission of the parent (guardian), as well as the guardianship authorities, to employ a child under 16 years of age;
• medical certificate.

The procedure established by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation (Order No. 302, 04/12/2011) provides for the mandatory medical examination of adolescents every year until they reach adulthood.

Attention! A medical examination of a citizen is carried out at the expense of the enterprise (Articles 69, 266 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). If a minor employee does not have a medical certificate, the management of the organization faces liability for an administrative violation (Article 5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

Remuneration for minors

Features of the calculation of payment for children (under 18 years of age) are reflected in the notice of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation (No. ШС-37-3/10304, 08/31/2010), in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Article 271), and are also formed taking into account the system in force in the employing organization payment.

• The amount of earnings with a time-based payment option is affected by the duration of the activity. At the request of the administration and at the expense of the enterprise’s resources, a minor employee receives an additional payment up to the salary of employees of the same category with a standard daily workload (Article 271 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
• In a piecework form of employment, earnings are calculated according to the current prices for the products produced. At the expense of its own funds, an enterprise can pay an employee up to the tariff rate for the difference in time for full and reduced daily employment.
• For citizens combining study and work , payment is also calculated taking into account output or time (worked). Additional payments are set at the discretion of the administration.

Attention! The employer cannot issue this category of employees a power of attorney to carry out operations involving the receipt of benefits, since minor citizens are not recognized as fully capable.

Teenage workers are entitled to paid leave once a year. The duration of rest is 31 days (calendar), and the time it is provided is determined by the employee’s needs (Article 267 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 124-126) in relation to persons under 18 years of age are prohibited:

• refuse to provide leave (annual);
• replace rest days with compensation (monetary);
• terminate your vacation (vacation) early.

Question: How is the accrual and payment of compensation for unused vacation upon dismissal to a minor employee who was employed in the main production activity on seasonal work reflected in the organization's accounting? View answer

Leave for minors

We all remember well that usually the right to use vacation for the first year of work arises after 6 months of continuous work in the company. But there are categories of workers to whom the legislation (Article 122 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) grants the right to annual paid leave before the expiration of six months. These include women - before or immediately after maternity leave, employees who have adopted a child under 3 months of age, and minors. Leave is granted at the request of the employee.

The duration of annual paid leave for an employee under 18 years of age, according to Art. 267 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, more than for ordinary employees - this is 31 calendar days.

The employer does not have the right to recall a minor employee from vacation (Part 3 of Article 125 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) and compensate for the vacation with money (Part 3 of Article 126 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

How to determine the duration of leave if it is granted to an employee after he reaches 18 years of age? Correct option: based on the totality of time worked separately before and separately after reaching adulthood.

Features of drawing up an employment contract

IMPORTANT! A sample of filling out an employment contract with a minor employee from ConsultantPlus is available here

Relationships of a legal nature between an organization and an employee, including a minor, arise taking into account the provisions of the employment contract (Article 16 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

A special form for registering labor relations with children under 18 years of age is not officially provided. The standards for the employment of minor citizens of the country, which must be reflected in the contract, are prescribed in the Labor Code and other regulatory documents of the Russian Federation.

The agreement must contain sections defining:

• title of the document (including number, date and place of execution);
• information about the participants (parties to the agreement);
• general provisions describing the admission of a citizen to the organization for the specified position;
• the subject of the agreement concerning the general provisions for the inclusion of a citizen in the state and the start date of work;
• duties of the parties;
• rights of participants;
• length of time for work and rest;
• the procedure for calculating and paying earnings;
• liability of participants for non-compliance with the provisions of the agreement;
• reasons for termination of the contract;
• procedure for action in the event of controversial situations;
• names and signatures of participants.

A contract with a minor must reflect the length of time for performing work duties (reduced), a ban on certain activities, the right to annual leave (in an increased amount) and the obligation of regular medical examination.

As an annex to the contract, the employee’s personal job description, individual activity schedule, permission from parents and supervisory authorities (if necessary) can be used.

The form of permission from parents is not regulated; it is important that it be in writing and contain significant points:

• Full name of one of the parents and the employed child;
• passport details of the parent and teenager;
• name of the organization where the minor is employed;
• the position for which he is being appointed;
• date of;
• personal signature of the parent.

Upon first employment, the personnel structure of the enterprise issues a work book and a pension system participant document for the employee.

After drawing up an employment contract with a minor employee, an order is prepared for his admission to the organization, indicating his position. Next, instructions are given on safety issues during work, as well as familiarization with the internal regulations of the enterprise.

This is prohibited when working with teenagers.

An employer who hires minors must be well aware of the specifics of the legislation that contain prohibitive provisions, since violation of them is fraught with serious sanctions.

1. The law does not allow a probationary period for minor workers. If the standard text of the contract contains this clause, it is necessary to draw up an additional agreement excluding it.
2. Persons under 18 years of age cannot be assigned to night shifts, sent on business trips, detained for overtime work, or called on weekends.
3. Article 265 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation lists activities that a minor will not be able to engage in on an official basis:
   work in harmful and/or dangerous conditions;
4. underground works;
5. work related to the movement of heavy loads;
6. professions associated with risks to morality and health (casinos, erotic clubs, bars, transportation and sale of alcohol and/or tobacco products, etc.).

Attention! After the employee reaches the age of majority, the employment agreement with him is renewed. The new (standard) contract excludes benefits that are legally provided only for teenagers.

Child labor: legal or illegal

Child labor in itself is not illegal.
She is under special protection from the state, because teenagers have a fragile psyche, do not have sufficient physical strength, and are subject to increased influence from others. This age is also associated with receiving education. Violations of legislation on the work of minors are found everywhere, but responsibility for such acts is scattered across various legal acts. There is also no special article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for the use of child labor.

Statistics. Forms of exploitation

There are different forms of child labor exploitation. These may include:

• coercion to perform work not covered by educational programs in schools;
• violation of labor standards for minors (involvement in overtime, heavy work);
• involvement in prostitution, provision of other sexual services, etc.