Child Employment Regulations 2024

Permit and licence. The regulations refer to a “permit” defined as a permit referred to in section 61 of the Act. The Act itself (not reproduced here) sets out a permit system for child employment. The record-keeping obligations in regulation 7 apply only to employers who employ a child under a permit or licence. That means not every employer of a child is caught; only those operating under the Act’s authorisation scheme. The distinction between permit and licence is drawn from the Act and the regulations do not modify it.

Occupier’s consent to entry. Under section 42 of the Act, an authorised officer may not enter any part of premises used for residential purposes unless the occupier consents. Regulation 6 prescribes the form for that consent. Schedule 1 sets out the form, which includes a checklist: the occupier must have been told the purpose of entry, informed of the right to refuse, and then signed. The form also records the time of entry and departure. The authorised officer must give the occupier a copy before leaving. This is a procedural safeguard: the officer cannot simply assert consent; there must be a written acknowledgement.

Infringement offence and penalty. An infringement offence is an offence that can be dealt with by an infringement notice (a fine) without going to court, unless the recipient elects to have the matter heard. Regulation 9 prescribes which offences from the Act are infringement offences, and the penalty amounts. The amounts are set out in Schedule 2. They differ between natural persons and bodies corporate. For example, an offence against section 19(4) of the Act carries an infringement penalty of 10 penalty units for both natural persons and bodies corporate. An offence against section 9(2) carries 2 penalty units for a natural person, and the table has no entry for a body corporate, which suggests that infringement notice cannot be issued to a body corporate for that particular offence (or that the offence can only be committed by a natural person). Similarly, several other offences have no body corporate penalty. Regulation 7 itself is also an infringement offence: 2 penalty units for natural persons and 2 for bodies corporate.

Penalty unit. The explanatory details note that penalty units are defined by the Sentencing Act 1991 and the value is set under the Monetary Units Act 2004. As at 1 July 2023 the value was $192.31. That value changes each financial year. So a 10 penalty unit infringement penalty would be $1,923.10 at that rate. The actual dollar amount may be rounded to the nearest dollar.

Records availability. Regulation 8 creates a right for the child employee or a parent/guardian to request a copy of the records kept under regulation 7. The employer must provide it: as soon as practicable if the record is kept at the premises where the child works; otherwise within 14 days in a manner agreed. This is a distinct right from the authorised officer’s existing powers under sections 43(d) and 44(1) of the Act.

The regulations primarily affect employers in Victoria who employ children under a permit or licence issued under the Child Employment Act 2003. That includes businesses such as fast food outlets, retail shops, supermarkets, cafes, farms, and entertainment industry employers who hire school-age employees. The record-keeping duties fall on the employer, not on the child, the parent, or any supervisor. The employer must maintain the specified data and must correct errors promptly. The regulations also affect children who work under those permits, because they (or their parents) can request copies of the records. This gives the young worker a way to verify their hours and ensure they are not being underpaid or worked beyond permitted hours, although the regulations do not themselves set hour limits - those are in the Act. Parents and guardians gain a direct right to request records, which may help them monitor compliance. Authorised officers appointed under the Act are affected because they must use the prescribed form when seeking consent to enter residential parts of premises. The form is a procedural requirement; failure to use it could render the entry unlawful and potentially affect evidence gathering. Occupiers of residential premises that are also used for child employment (for example, a home-based business or a farm with residential quarters) are directly affected because an officer must obtain their consent in writing using this form before entering residential parts. The occupier has a clear right to refuse, and the form makes that explicit.

In terms of size, the compliance burden falls more heavily on small businesses that may lack dedicated human resources or payroll systems. A small café owner hiring a teenager after school must manually record start and finish times, rest breaks, and work dates, and keep those records for 12 months. A large chain may have automated systems. The infringement penalties are relatively modest (2 to 10 penalty units), but the cost of non-compliance includes the risk of repeated fines and potential prosecution. The regulations do not impose any obligation on the child or parent beyond the option to request records. They also do not affect independent contractors or volunteers because the permit system applies to employees.

Employer duties. The core duty is in regulation 7(1): an employer who employs a child under a permit or licence must keep records in accordance with the regulation. The penalty for breach is 10 penalty units. The records must state the specific items listed in regulation 7(2): start and finish times each day, daily and weekly hours worked, start and finish of rest breaks, date employment started and ceased, and each date worked. The employer must keep those records for at least 12 months after the last entry for that child (regulation 7(3)). The employer must not alter a record except to correct an error (regulation 7(4)), and must correct any error as soon as the employer becomes aware of it, recording the nature of the error with the correction (regulation 7(5)). The records must be legible in English or readily convertible to English (regulation 7(6)). The note to regulation 7 reminds employers that additional record-keeping requirements exist under section 18B of the Act - the regulations do not replace those.

Duty to make records available. Under regulation 8(1), on request from the child or a parent/guardian, the employer must make a copy of the record available. The timeframe depends on where the record is kept. If the record is kept at the premises where the child works or worked, the employer must make it available as soon as practicable after the request at those premises. If the record is kept elsewhere (for example, at a central office), the employer must make it available within 14 days after the request, in a manner agreed between the employer and the requester (regulation 8(2)). This duty is separate from any obligations under privacy or employment laws. The note clarifies that authorised officers have existing powers to request records under sections 43(d) and 44(1) of the Act, so the regulation 8 right is an additional right for the child and family.

Rights of the child and parent. The child and their parent or guardian have a right to request and receive a copy of the employer’s records under regulation 8. This is a valuable transparency mechanism. It allows a parent to verify the hours their child actually worked against the child’s own recollection or against the employer’s pay records. However, the right is only to records kept under regulation 7, not to broader employment records. The regulation does not specify that the copy must be free of charge, but it would be unusual to charge given the purpose. The request must be made by the child or parent, not by a third party such as a union official.

Occupier’s rights. An occupier of premises any part of which is used for residential purposes has the right to refuse entry to an authorised officer. Regulation 6 and Schedule 1 prescribe the form by which that consent must be acknowledged. The officer must produce their identity card, inform the occupier of the purpose of entry, and inform them of the right to refuse. Only then can consent be given and the form signed. The occupier can refuse without giving a reason, and the officer cannot enter residential parts without consent (or a warrant under other provisions, though not mentioned here). The occupier is entitled to a copy of the signed form before the officer leaves.

The regulations establish a system of infringement offences and penalties for breach of both the Act and the regulations themselves. There are two layers of penalty: the maximum penalty for a breach of regulation 7 (record-keeping) is 10 penalty units, which as at 1 July 2023 equates to $1,923.10. That is a court-imposed maximum. But the regulations also provide for infringement notices, which are on-the-spot fines that do not require court proceedings unless the recipient contests. The infringement penalties are set out in Schedule 2. For regulation 7 (item 7 in the table), the infringement penalty is 2 penalty units for a natural person and 2 penalty units for a body corporate - about $384.62 at 2023 rates. That is significantly lower than the court maximum, reflecting the summary nature of the infringement process.

For offences under the Act, the infringement penalties vary. An offence against section 19(4) (likely relating to hours of employment or conditions, though the Act is not before us) carries 10 penalty units for both natural persons and bodies corporate. Offences against sections 19B(3), (4), and (5) carry 5 penalty units for natural persons, and no penalty is listed for bodies corporate, which may mean those offences cannot be committed by a body corporate or that the infringement notice scheme does not apply to them. Similarly, section 26(1) (perhaps offences relating to records or permits) carries 5 penalty units for natural persons only. Section 9(2) carries 2 penalty units for natural persons only. The lack of a body corporate penalty for many items likely reflects the nature of the underlying offence - for example, a natural person (the employer or manager) may be the only proper defendant.

The enforcement of infringement notices is governed by the Act and general Victorian infringement enforcement legislation. A person issued with an infringement notice can pay the penalty to avoid prosecution. If they do not pay or elect to have the matter heard in court, the full penalty may be sought. The employer is also exposed to possible prosecution for the underlying offence if the infringement notice is not an appropriate response. For bodies corporate, the penalties are the same for some offences, which is unusual because penalty units for bodies corporate are often multiples of the natural person amount. Here the drafter has set them equally or left them blank.

Authorised officers appointed under the Act would typically issue the infringement notices. The regulations do not prescribe any additional enforcement powers; they merely designate which offences can be dealt with by infringement notice. This streamlines enforcement for routine breaches such as missing a time entry, but it also reduces the procedural safeguards of a court hearing unless the recipient presses for one. For a small business, even a 2 penalty unit fine is an unwelcome cost, and the risk of multiple fines for each child employed could accumulate quickly.

The regulations sit under the Child Employment Act 2003 (the Act). They do not replace or modify the Act; they are subordinate legislation that fills in detail the Act leaves to regulation, such as the precise record-keeping requirements, the consent form, and the list of infringement offences. The Act contains substantive prohibitions and requirements - for example, the need for a permit, maximum hours, prohibited work for children. The regulations do not touch those. The note to regulation 7 explicitly reminds employers that there are additional record-keeping requirements under section 18B of the Act. So compliance requires reading both the Act and the regulations together.

The Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) defines a penalty unit, and the Monetary Units Act 2004 sets the dollar value each year. The infringement penalties in Schedule 2 are expressed in penalty units, so their real-world cost changes annually. This means an infringement notice issued in 2024 may have a different dollar amount than one issued in 2025. Employers must be aware of the current value at the time of the offence.

The Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (Vic) applies to these regulations. They sunset 10 years after making (21 May 2034) unless remade. This is a standard provision ensuring regular review of delegated legislation.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) and related regulations may also apply to child employment, especially concerning supervision, safe work, and risk assessments. The Child Employment Regulations do not override OHS duties; they sit alongside them. Similarly, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) sets national minimum standards, including for young workers, and may overlap on record-keeping. However, the state regulations are specific to child employment under the Victorian permit system, and compliance with one does not guarantee compliance with the other.

The prescribed consent form under regulation 6 affects the interpretation of section 42 of the Act. Without a signed acknowledgement, an authorised officer cannot lawfully enter residential parts of premises. This interacts with search and seizure powers in the Act and potentially with privacy and trespass laws.

The Child Employment Regulations 2024 are a new instrument. They revoked the Child Employment Regulations 2014 (S.R. No. 43/2014). There have been no further amendments to the 2024 regulations as at the version date (26 May 2024). The table of amendments in the endnotes confirms there are no amendments made by statutory rules, subordinate instruments, or Acts. The regulations are relatively short and were made on 21 May 2024, came into operation on 26 May 2024, and will sunset on 21 May 2034. The explanatory details note that the 2014 regulations are referenced as S.R. No. 43/2014. No explanatory memorandum, parliamentary debate, or regulatory impact statement is reproduced here, but those documents would typically accompany the making of such regulations. The brevity of the regulations and the lack of amendment history suggest they are largely a re-make of the 2014 regulations with possible updates to penalty amounts or the consent form. The earlier 2014 regulations had a similar structure but are not available for comparison from the source provided. Practitioners should check whether any transitional provisions apply, though the source is silent on that.

The source text does not cite any cases, and none are listed in the endnotes. This is not surprising for a procedural regulation that is only a few pages long and has been in force for a short time. The regulations provide the machinery for enforcement of the Act, so litigation would more likely occur under the Act itself - for example, challenges to permit decisions, prosecutions for employing a child without a permit, or disputes about hours. The infringement penalty provisions could be tested if a recipient argues they were wrongly issued. The prescribed consent form could be litigated if an occupier claims they did not properly consent or if an officer entered without a signed form. However, as at the date of the source, no such cases are reported or referenced. In the broader context, the Child Employment Act 2003 has been considered in Victorian courts, but the regulations are too recent and too narrow to have generated their own body of case law. The analyst should not invent hypotheticals; the source is silent.

1. Narrow scope of record-keeping duty. The regulation 7 record-keeping obligation applies only to children employed under a permit or licence. If an employer hires a child without a permit (illegally), the regulation does not directly impose a record-keeping duty - but the employer would then face penalties under the Act for the unpermitted employment, plus any general record-keeping duties under other laws. The scope limitation means that an employer who mistakenly thinks a permit is not required might also neglect the records, compounding the risk.

2. Alteration rules are strict. Regulation 7(4) prohibits altering a record except to correct an error. That means employers cannot rewrite a timesheet for convenience or consolidate entries. Any change must be a correction, and the nature of the error must be recorded alongside the correction (7(5)). This prevents retrospective smoothing of hours. For a business that uses manual timesheets, this is a trap: if an employee forgets to clock out, the employer must correct the record properly and note the error, not just fill in a blank retrospectively.

3. Request response time depends on record location. Under regulation 8(2), if the record is kept at the premises where the child is or was employed, the employer must provide a copy “as soon as practicable”. That is a vague standard. If the employer’s premises are a small shop, and a parent arrives at a busy time, “as soon as practicable” might be interpreted generously. But an authorised officer or court could view delay unfavourably. For records kept elsewhere, the employer has a clear 14-day window, but the manner is to be agreed. If the employer and requester cannot agree, the regulation does not specify fallback - possibly the employer must use a reasonable method.

4. Infringement penalties for bodies corporate are limited. The Schedule 2 table does not list body corporate penalties for most offences. This may mean that a body corporate (company) cannot be issued an infringement notice for those offences. However, the Act itself may still hold the body corporate liable in a prosecution. The practical effect is that for many offences, the infringement notice fast-track is only available against individual employers. A company that employs children may only face infringement notices for a narrow set of breaches (items 2 and 7). This is a gap that could reduce the deterrent effect for corporate employers.

5. Records must be kept for 12 months after the last entry. That is a minimum. If a child works for only one day, the records must still be kept for 12 months from that day. For an employer with high turnover of young workers, the record-keeping burden could add up.

6. The consent form must be used. An authorised officer who fails to use the prescribed form (or uses a different form) may not have obtained valid consent. An occupier could challenge the lawfulness of entry. The form also requires the officer to record departure time, so the duration of attendance is documented.

7. Penalty units change yearly. The dollar amount of fines is not fixed. An employer who budgets based on 2023 values may be surprised in later years. The regulations do not specify which year’s value applies to an offence - it is the value at the time the offence was committed or when the infringement notice is issued? Usually it is the date of offence, but the ambiguity creates uncertainty.

An employer who hires a child under a permit or licence under the Child Employment Act 2003 should implement the following steps to comply with the 2024 Regulations.

Step 1: Determine if the employment is covered. Confirm that the child is employed under a permit or licence issued under the Act. If not covered, the regulations do not apply, but the Act’s other obligations (including having a permit) still do. If covered, proceed.

Step 2: Set up a record-keeping system. The system must capture for each child employee, each day worked: (a) start time and finish time; (b) total hours worked that day and that week; (c) start and finish times of any rest breaks taken; (d) the date the child started employment and ceased; (e) each date the child worked. This can be done with paper timesheets, a spreadsheet, or payroll software. Ensure the records are legible in English or convertible to English (e.g., a scanned PDF of a handwritten sheet is OK if readable).

Step 3: Ensure records cannot be easily altered. The system should prevent unauthorised changes. If using paper, use a bound book or keep completed sheets in a locked drawer. If electronic, use audit trails. Any correction must be made promptly upon discovering an error, and the original error and its nature must be noted. Do not overwrite or delete; add a correction entry.

Step 4: Retain records for at least 12 months after the last entry for each child. For a child who works for years, keep records until 12 months after the last day worked. For a short-term worker, keep the simple records for 12 months.

Step 5: Respond to requests for copies. If a child or parent asks for a copy of the records, provide it. If the record is kept at the premises where the child works, provide it as soon as practicable at those premises. If not, provide within 14 days in an agreed manner (e.g., email, post). Keep a record of the request and response.

Step 6: Understand the infringement landscape. Know that failing to keep proper records can attract a maximum court penalty of 10 penalty units, but also that an authorised officer may issue an infringement notice of 2 penalty units. Ensure the records are accurate to avoid any notice.

Step 7: Use the correct consent form when visited. If an authorised officer requests entry to residential parts of premises, the employer (as occupier) should ensure the officer produces their ID, explains the purpose, and informs them of the right to refuse. Only then sign the Schedule 1 form if consent is given. The employer should retain a copy.

Step 8: Train relevant staff. Make sure managers and payroll staff know the record-keeping requirements, especially the no-alteration rule and the request response procedure. Include this in onboarding for any role that handles time records.

Step 9: Check for interactions with other laws. Comply with any additional record-keeping requirements under section 18B of the Act (which may require different information) and under federal workplace laws. The regulations are the floor, not the ceiling.

Step 10: Review annually. Monitor changes in penalty unit values and any future amendments to the regulations. Sunset is 10 years, but the government may remake or amend earlier. Keep an eye on the Victorian legislation website.