My 16 year old daughter has been asked to start work on sunday @ 5.00am and buses dont run untill 6.00am?

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Matt

It depends.
If she has not yet left school, the people she is working for are breaking the law. People who have not yet reached the school leaving age must follow these rules:

- No working before 7am, or after 7pm.
- During school hours
- No more than 35 hours a week.

If she has left school and if now either at college or in a full-time job, the above rules no longer apply. These new rules do however:

- No more than 8 hours a day.
- No more than 40 hours a week.

Once she is at school leaving age, she is no longer protected by the 7am-7pm law. The law does state though that most jobs for minors are restricted from working between 10pm-6am. But this does depend on the type of job as some may start earlier (5am in this case!) If your daughter is being made to work illegally, report it to the police as the company she's working for is breaking the law. If shes above leaving age, have a look for nightbuses on the TfL website, or see if her employer will provide her with a minicab.

rookethorne

No they are not wrong as long as they abide by the employment act concerning young persons.

Is it within cycling / walking distance? if not, a concession should be made - perhaps a lift could be offered, it depends on the circumstances.

adelly

Her contract might state that there are some unsocialble hours to work in which case they can ask her to do it. Could she get a lift or a taxi? If this has been sprung on her and is not in the contract she could ask them if someone else could do the shift, or swap with someone, or ask if the company would be willing to reimburse her taxi fare?

Carrie S

If you live in London then there are night buses which run all night and you can find details of them on www.tfl.gov.uk/journeyplanner. Type in your location and destination and the time you need to arrive by. It will show you which buses to take.

Night buses are generally safe especially at that time of the morning when there is hardly anyone around.

If you are concerned about her safety perhaps you could call her employer and say that as she is still legally a minor that if they need her there that early, that they should send a licensed minicab to pick her up in the morning. They might decide the expense is not worth it and ask her to come in later or they might send one - either way, you won't need to worry.

Kristy M

Is she still at school? I'm sure that's illegal if she is? If not, she would be perfectly within her rights to ask for her hours to be altered as she has no way of getting to work at that time of day - most employers would be sympathetic of her situation.

Moonstone

Is it just a Sunday job or is it permanent job? Either way can you not give her a lift that's what parents up here have to do for their kids. We stay up a Highland Glen in Scotland and if your kids are under age to drive parents get up to take them to work or collect them at night because the few buses that do run never run to suit getting to the nearest small towns both which are 13 miles in one direction and 12 in the other. Its what you have to do for your kids Im afraid.

loufinlay

They are wrong, if she is still at school - and are breaking the law

These restrictions last until you become 16 and have left school, when you become classed as a young worker. This means that you'll have more choice in the jobs you can do. If you are 18 or over, you get the same work rights as adults.

Getting your first job
Working hours
There are rules that regulate what times of the day you can work and for how long. These are different depending on your age.

14 year olds
There are a lot of rules that control working hours of children, but the basic ones are:

you cannot work before 7.00 am or after 7.00 pm on any day
15 and 16 year olds
If you're 15 or 16 and are working while you're still at school, your rights are almost identical to those of 14 year olds. However, you are allowed to work for up to eight hours on Saturdays or during the school holidays

Generally speaking, young workers (undr 18) canâ€™t work between 10.00 pm to 6.00 am (but you can agree to change this to between 11.00 pm to 7.00 am). However, there are a few exceptions if you work in:

hospitals
agriculture
retail
hotels or catering
post or newspaper delivery
cultural, sporting, artistic or advertising activities
You can work into the night if it's crucial to your job, but only if you need to either:

maintain continuity of service or production
respond to an increase in demand for service or product
and

there is no adult available to perform the task
your employer makes sure that your training needs do not suffer
you are allowed to take a rest period the same length as the time you worked later in the day

gingerninja

i actually took a company i used to work for last year (i wont say the name) after they had been making me work late shifts until 2 or 3 in the morning and for asking me to start at 6 on other days when i was 17.

the basic line is, if you're under 18 (regardless of whether or not you are in full-time education) you don't work for longer than 8 hours, always finish before 11pm and don't start before 7am, have a break of at least 8 hours in between shifts and get a 30 minute break every 4 and a half hours.

don't let your daughter be taken as a mug.

shortbreadtin

It depends what her contract says. If she knew the hours when she signed up there's not a lot she can do.

And no, I don't believe they're wrong. If she wasn't able to do the job she shouldn't have accepted it.

Can't anyone give her a lift, or can't she take a taxi? I know if it was my 16 yr old son that's what I'd do.

RichB

It seems a bit of an odd arrangement to me, as it more or less presumes that employees would have their own transport.

"Must have own transport" is a stated requirement for some jobs, but not (I'd have thought) the sort of job that would be offered to a 16-year-old, who as you say isn't of legal driving age.

When I last did a minimum wage job, the company arranged and paid for taxis for people who had to start or end shifts at unsociable hours. Not because they were feeling generous and benevolent, but because it was the only practical way they could actually get their employees into work at those times, given that no public transport was running and most employees did not own cars.

So she shouldn't just refuse, but perhaps should ask the employer if transport could be provided and, if not, how she would be expected to get into work at that hour when no public transport is running.

There are actually restrictions on under-18s working unsociable hours, so the employer could be breaking the law, but that depends on what type of job it is and your daughter's educational status.

bails

Can you not take her or what about a taxi? Does she want the job? If all else fails can she not have a word with her employers and see if she can start later.

Derek M

She should only be coming home at that time

****

well of course who on earth would expect a 16 year old to be out and about at that time?

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