The Chamber supports making conditions for employing minors more flexible

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has prepared a draft law aimed at simplifying the employment of minors and encouraging employers to hire young people. The Chamber supports the proposed changes and believes that there should be fewer restrictions related to the employment of minors.

The law should only set minimum requirements
The Chamber supports the goal of simplifying the regulation concerning the employment of minors so that the requirements would be more lenient and would encourage employers to hire young people. In our view, the law should only set the minimum requirements for employing minors, while each company can decide whether to establish stricter internal rules. Parental consent remains crucial, ensuring that the parent can assess whether the child is ready to perform specific tasks.

Longer opportunities to work during school holidays
The Chamber supports the ministry’s plan to allow minors subject to compulsory education to work longer during school holidays. According to the proposed changes, a minor may work for two months during the summer break, five calendar days during a one-week school holiday, and ten calendar days during a two-week school holiday, with parental consent. Currently, a minor subject to compulsory education may only work for up to half the duration of each school holiday. The Chamber supports this change as it increases flexibility and takes into account young people who wish to work more during the holidays than current legislation permits.

Simplifying work in family businesses and the Labour Inspectorate's approval process
The Chamber supports the proposal to allow 7–17-year-olds to work in a family business in any field, provided the work is light. According to the Chamber, this change would align the legal framework with real-life practices, where helping out in a family business is often a natural and safe way to develop a work ethic. Additionally, employing children under 13 currently requires prior approval from the Labour Inspectorate. The Chamber emphasizes that the approval process should be fast and efficient. We supported the planned change that would reduce the Labour Inspectorate’s approval deadline from ten working days to one working day.

Harmonizing vacation length
The Chamber supported the change to reduce the annual paid vacation for minors from 35 to 28 calendar days. This would simplify employers’ workforce planning and reduce administrative burden, while still allowing the employer to offer a longer vacation by agreement with the employee.

Amending alcohol handling restrictions
Regarding amendments to the Alcohol Act, the Chamber supports the plan to allow young people aged at least 16 to work in roles involving the preparation and sale of alcoholic beverages, provided it is properly organized in the workplace. Preparing alcoholic beverages refers to making cocktails for customers in hospitality, accommodation, and other service sectors—not to processing or bottling alcohol. The Chamber also proposed allowing 13–15-year-olds to perform supporting cleaning tasks in catering establishments, including clearing glasses and dishes that contained alcohol, as long as they are not involved in serving or selling alcohol.

Handling money by minors
The Chamber proposed adding a provision to the draft law allowing minors aged 12 and older to perform jobs involving the handling of money. Today, payments are mostly made by bank card, and such tasks are generally not complex. However, the requirement for parental consent must remain, and if a child is not ready to handle cash at a certain age, the parent should have the right to refuse permission. Employers also retain the right to set stricter internal rules.