Recruiting a young person for a summer job

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

A minimum age to respect

In principle, you cannot recruit a young person under the age of 16. However, if you obtain the consent of his/her legal representative and the prior authorization of the labor inspectorate, you may hire a young person over the age of 14 and under the age of 16 to perform light and age-appropriate work during part of his school holidays. But beware, this period of work must not exceed half of his vacation, or one month of work at most for 2 months of vacation.

A proper contract

Regardless of the length of their stay in your company, the young person recruited as part of a summer job must sign a fixed-term employment contract. A contract that must specify, in particular, the justification (temporary increase in activity, replacement of an absent employee, seasonal contract, …) for such a contract, its term or minimum duration as well as the position concerned.

Remuneration based on the minimum wage

Your young recruit is normally entitled to the same remuneration as that would be granted to an employee of equivalent qualification (diploma, experience, …) hired on a permanent contract to perform the same function. This remuneration cannot be lower than the minimum wage or the minimum wage set by your collective agreement.

Unless your collective agreement provides for a more favorable provision, a reduction in the minimum wage is provided for young people under the age of 18: 20% for young people under the age of 17 and 10% for those aged 17 to 18. An allowance that does not apply to young people who justify 6 months of practice in your professional branch.

Adapted working conditions

Young people under the age of 18 may not work more than 8 hours per day (7 hours for those under 16), nor more than 35 hours per week. And you must give them at least 30 consecutive minutes of break if their daily working time exceeds 4 hours 30.

Night work, i.e., work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. (between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. for children under the age of 16), is in principle prohibited for minors.