Quebec bill proposes teens 16 and under work no more than 17 hours a week

Tanya Faulds, 16, would get frustrated every time she had to go back to her old employer and remind them she only wanted to be scheduled for 15 hours a week.

"They would always give me more hours, you know, and I never had any time for school and I always had to ask people to pick up my shifts," says the Quebec High School student, who used to work at a McDonald's.

That's why she welcomes a new bill regulating youth employment in the province.

The proposed law, tabled on Tuesday, would limit the number of weekly hours Quebecers 16 and under can work during the school year to 17. It also sets the minimum legal working age at 14 — with some exceptions for jobs like babysitting or tutoring.

Quebec's labour minister, Jean Boulet, says the bill will help protect children from getting injured in the workplace and keep teenagers from dropping out of school.

"Their first job is to be a student," he said, pointing to a study that showed that 31 per cent of students working over 16 hours a week drop out of school.

Secondary 5 student Felix Turner-Dufour disagrees with the cap.

"Sometimes I do, like, over 24 hours a week, and I honestly think we should be allowed to work more if we want to work more, if we want to have financial independence from our parents or save up for like a trip or something," said the 16-year-old, who works for the city of Quebec.

He says he's always been able to make time for his school work.

Currently, employers who want to hire children can do so as long as they receive parental consent. The proposed law would change that, setting the legal minimum age to work as 14.

There are exceptions: a child working in the performing arts, delivering newspapers, or in a family business with fewer than 10 employees.

Employers who fail to comply could be fined up to $12,000 for a first offence.

The bill comes as the labour shortage has put pressure on companies to hire younger workers, Boulet said. That trend has translated into more workplace accidents involving children and teenagers.

According to Quebec's workplace safety board, the CSSST, the number of workplace injuries sustained by children 14 and under jumped from 10 in 2017 to 64 in 2021.