Hiring a young person for a summer job

You may have to resort to summer jobs to cope with the influx of tourists, a temporary increase in your activity or simply to replace your employees who have left on paid leave. In any case, it will then be essential for you to master the rules that will apply to the young workers you will welcome into your company.

A minimum age to be respected

In principle, you cannot hire a young person under the age of sixteen. However, after obtaining the consent of his legal representative and the prior authorization of the labour inspectorate, you may hire a young person over fourteen and under sixteen years old to perform light and age-appropriate work during part of his school holidays. But be careful, this work period must not exceed half of his vacation, or one month at most during a two-month vacation.

A formal contract

Regardless of the length of his/her stay in your company, the young person recruited as part of a summer job must sign a fixed-term employment contract. The work contract needs to state, among other things, the reason (temporary increase in activity, replacement of an absent employee, …) for such a contract, its term or minimum duration as well as the workstation concerned.

Clarification: An employment contract with a minor requires the consent of his legal representative.

Remuneration based on the Minimum Wage

Your young worker is normally entitled to the same remuneration that would be allocated to an employee with equivalent qualifications (education, experience.) hired on a permanent contract to perform the same function. The remuneration cannot be lower than the minimum legal wage or the minimum wage set by your collective labour agreement.

Unless more favourably provided for in your collective labour agreement, the employer may reduce the minimum wage when her/she hires young people under eighteen years old: a 20% reduction for young people under seventeen years old and 10% for those aged between seventeen and eighteen years old. This reduction does not apply to young workers who have already worked for at least six months in the same business branch as yours.

Good to know: The benefits granted to other employees of the company, such as restaurant vouchers or the assumption of transport costs, also benefit young people recruited for the summer.

Adapted working conditions

Young people under the age of eighteen may not work more than 8 hours a day (7 hours for those under 16), nor more than 35 hours a week. And you should give them at least thirty consecutive minutes of break if their daily working time exceeds four and half hours.

Night work, i.e., work conducted between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. (between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. for those under sixteen years old), is, in principle, prohibited for minors.

Important: If you hire a minor, you must give him an information and prevention visit by a health professional from your prevention and occupational health service before taking up his or her post.