Bill 19 adopted: What retailers need to know
June 6, 2023Bill 19, the law on the working age of young people, has been adopted by the National Assembly of Québec. As of this summer, young people under the age of 14 will no longer be able to work, with a few exceptions.
RCC actively tried to postpone these changes until early Fall to avoid confusion and dismissals in the middle of summer. Despite consultations and submissions, no changes were made to the original draft except for a minor amendment.
Thus, within 30 days (sanction of the Bill was given on June 1, 2023), all employers will have to, if necessary, send terminations to their young workers. Once they have received this document, these young people can continue working for two or three weeks – according to the terms set out in the law.
The law will also limit 14-to-16-year-olds to work only 17 hours a week during the school year starting September 1st, 2023.
Possible jobs to be excluded from the bill include creator or performer, newspaper delivery, babysitter, tutor; working in a family business with fewer than 10 employees if the child is a child of the employer, roles within non-profit organizations or non-profit sports organizations, and light manual labour jobs on farms with fewer than 10 employees.
