Employment of Children

There are rules in the Labour Standards Code that concern paying children for work. If you know of a child who works, or if you are an employer with employees who are under the age of 16, then the information below may be important to you.

The Labour Standards Code tells when children may be employed in Nova Scotia. The laws about the employment of children do not apply to people who are 16 years and over.

The law divides children into two groups: those under 14 and those under 16.

Children Under 14

It is against the law to pay wages to a child under the age of 14 to do work that:

is likely to be unwholesome or harmful to the child's health or normal development
is likely to keep the child out of school or make it hard for the child to learn at school

It is against the law to employ a child under 14 to do work:

for more than 8 hours a day
for more than 3 hours on a school day unless a certificate has been issued under the Education Act to allow the child to work
for any time during the day when that time plus the time the child is in school adds up to more than 8 hours
between the hours of 10 pm of any day and 6 am of the next day

Children Under 16

The Labour Standards Code says that no one is to employ a child under the age of 16 in any work that risks the child's well-being, such as

mining
manufacturing
construction
forestry
work in garages and automobile service stations
work in hotels and restaurants
work in billiard rooms

Exception

The Labour Standards Code rules for children under 16 do not apply to the owner of a business who employs members of his or her own family.

Liability of a Parent or Guardian

Any parent or guardian of a child whose employment violates the Labour Standards Code can be fined unless he or she can prove that the child worked without his or her knowledge.