Sri Lanka has ratified all key International conventions (such as the International Labour Organization Convention 138 on the minimum age for employment) and has sufficient legislation for the eradication of child engagement in labour, ‘hazardous’ or otherwise.
Due to this reason, the Government has decided to link the minimum age for admission to employment or work with the age of completion of compulsory schooling, thereby raising the minimum age of employment from fourteen (14) to sixteen (16) years. Further, for the purpose of employment of young persons, the definition of a ‘young person’ has been amended to be a person who has attained the age of sixteen (16), but is under the age of eighteen (18) years, whereas ‘children’ are defined to be persons under sixteen years of age.
Accordingly, the Government recently introduced a revised set of laws and regulations by passing 4 Bills in Parliament on 05th January 2021, with the view of implementing the above amendments to the following 4 Acts connected to the area of employment and labour:
| PRINCIPAL ENACTMENT | SALIENT PROVISION | AMENDMENT |
|---|---|---|
| Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act No 19 of 1954 | A person who has attained 14 years of age, but is under 18 years of age shall be employed in or about the business of a shop or office as per the regulations set out in the Act. (Section 10) | Section 10 of the Act has been amended to increase the employable age from 14 years to 16 years of age. (Clause 2 of the Bill). |
| Employment of Women, Young Persons, and Children Act, No. 47 of 1956 | A ‘young person’ is described as a person who has attained the age of fourteen years but is under the age of eighteen years of age, whereas a ‘child’ is described as a person under the age of fourteen years. (Section 34). |
Section 34 of the Act has been amended to describe a ‘young person’ as a person between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, thereby increasing the minimum age of employment of ‘young persons’ to 16 years of age. A ‘child’ is described to be a person under the age of 16, and the age of a person attending elementary school also has been amended to be increased to 16 years of age- (Clause 7 of the Bill). Accordingly, Section 3, Section 9 and Section 20 of the principle enactment have been amended to be on par with the above new definitions of a ‘young person’ and a ‘child’. |
| Factories Ordinance (Chapter 128) No.45 of 1942 | A “young person” is described as a person who has attained the age of fourteen and has not attained the age of eighteen (Section 127 of the Act) | Section 127 of the Act has been amended to describe a ‘young person’ as a person between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, thereby increasing the minimum age of employment of ‘young persons’ to 16 years. (Clause 7 of the Bill) Any reference to ‘young persons’ would now mean ‘all persons who had not attained the age of eighteen’; Section 68, 78, 86 has been amended accordingly. |
| The hours of employment in the case of a young person depends on the age category they fall into: those who have attained the age of 16, shall not exceed twelve hours (between 6.a.m. and 6.p.m.), and those who have attained the age of 18, hours of employment shall not end later than 8 p.m. while the hours shall end by 1 p.m., on one day in the week. (Section 67 (b) of the Act ) | The amendment to Section 67 has been made to broaden the choice of hours which a ‘young person’ could work within a day. Accordingly, the period of employment of a young person shall not exceed twelve hours in any day (between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.), and on one day in the week, hours shall end by 1 p.m. (Clause 2 of the Bill) | |
| Minimum Wages (Indian Labour) Ordinance No.27 0f 1927 | The employable age to work in estates is for persons who have attained the age of 14. (Section 4 of the Act) | Section 47 of the Act has been amended to increase the employable age from 14 years to 16 years of age. (Clause 2 of the Bill). |
| An able-bodied unskilled female labourer above the age of fifteen years is entitled to minimum rates of wages. (Section 4 of the Act) |
Section 18 of the Act has been amended to increase the age limit of female labourers to 16 years in respect of payment of minimum rates of wages. (Clause 4 of the Bill) |
Exception
A child under the age of 16 is not prevented from getting involved in agri-business activities of his family, or in any business activity organized for an educational/charitable purpose, provided that such partaking is done only before or after the commencement of school.